Love Is a Powerful Force
by DatRandomGuy
Summary: Sometimes love is all you need. But in RuneScape, it's not always that simple. There are monsters, bullies, and even gods waging wars, so how confusing could it be to a noob couple who just started out? Follow Jade and Dylan as they journey from noobhood and beyond! Lots of action, violence, and romance. Based on 07scape.
1. Starting Out

**A/N. This is my first story. I absolutely love RuneScape stories and I hope you do so to mine too! Above all, I appreciate any reviews!**

Oomph. I landed hard into the cobblestone stairs. Rubbing my terribly aching back, I looked around. I was surrounded by magnificent scenery. To my back was a gigantic castle looming in my peripheral vision. It was made of finely-carved, bright white stone blocks and featured huge windows. It gradually narrowed closer to the upper floors. I myself was laying right in front of the magnificent wooden entrance, blocking hot-tempered people. Foreboding cannons peeked out curiously, protected by the shelter of the roof.

I got up. Scanning my eyes in all directions, I collected the grounds of the castle. There was an extremely-well maintained lawn guarded by patrolling gardeners. Small trees and people puttering about littered the lawn. Next to the castle walls were intricately-carved bushes. Banners with a blue star plopped in the center bordered the main path up to where I stood, a clear sign of faith.

A path ran from the entrance to the castle grounds to the entrance to the castle. At the entrance of the castle, where I stood were a few steps leading upward into the building. Two giant, secure watch towers stood at the main entrance to the grounds, warding off all possibilities of evil. The grounds were bordered by 12-foot fine stone walls, which were a bright-white stone that matched the castle and offset the healthy green grass. I suppose the walls were perfect for the castle, just enough to provide protection, but not enough to over-do it.

Overwhelmed with curiosity at the brand new realm, I wandered down the steps. Suddenly, something extremely peculiar happened. A man fell to the ground in a spinning vortex right next to me, startling me. I jumped back, tripping on the stairs and falling to the ground. "Holy-holy crap! This abomination!" I shouted, struggling to crawl away from the strange person. Everyone looked at me and laughed heartily, even the strange man himself. What the hell was this? You could say that was my first glimpse of RuneScape magic.

There's something peculiar you should know about me. I never went to Tutorial Island.

Cheeks glaring red, I glanced at my laughing prosecutors. One arrogant man after another, still chuckling at my failure. "What do you want?" I cried out. They stood response-less, just like the cold stone walls bordering the castle. They were a lost cause. I turned to the right. I needed help in this strange place.

I finally spotted someone new, someone with no judging eyes. She had blonde hair coming to curls at the end, deep blue eyes, and defined body features. I approached her friendily. "Hi!" I yelled out to her, catching her attention.

"Hey!" she said awkwardly. but she was sweet.

"Embarrassing question...but I just arrived in this place, I need help fast..to start off, what is my name?"

She smiled. "My name is Jade4588 . . ." she declared, shifting her feet nervously. It was awkward for a second but I chuckled at her mistake; she had given her own username! She blushed. But what a jackpot. This girl was a new player like me. She smiled gingerly and continued, "Oh . . . you were asking for your own name, huh. . .?"

"Yes," I responded, leaning against the supportive castle wall. I looked to her for answers.

"Well in that case, it's Dylan94. Or should I call you Dylan?" she openly asked. I liked this girl. She liked me for who I was, and I did not see her coming. I was never planning to meet her, but it just happened that way.

"Dylan is perfect." I offered my hand and she willingly accepted it. Dylan sounded so natural on me. "How about just Jade for you?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"That's great! Jade it is," she said.

"So-let's get down to business. Where should I start. I'm brand new here, I have absolutely no idea what to do. Do you?" I questioned curiously, fiddling with the ends of my shirt.

"Oh god. Not really, to be honest," Jade answered, folding her arms in disbelief at finding another inexperienced player. A leaf or two fell down near us, landing softly on the grass which cushioned its fall. "But you do remember Tutorial Island, don't you?"

I gazed blankly into her eyes. "What is 'Tutorial Island'?" I blared. Seriously, we're speaking English here, not alien.

She was equally shocked. "You've never been to Tutorial Island?" her mouth gaped wide open in disbelief.

Leave it to my luck to not go to Tutorial Island, which I assumed was a place where you were taught skills. "No," I said, smiling sheepishly.

Jade regained composure, shutting her gaping mouth but jumping up and down in excitement. "We'll have to hang out more! We can train skills, fight monsters, and I can show you how! Oh my god, this is so cool! Thank Saradomin!" Jade yelped, trembling in excitement. I couldn't help but smile. "Unfortunately, I have to go home for dinner now though..." she trailed off, smiling.

Then she left, giving me a good wave. My eyes trailed her as she walked off out the castle walls and then I caught the sight of a majestic bird, flying high into the setting sky. Chills ran up and down my arms and legs.

Dinner, my conscience screamed, relieving me from my trance. Okay, I just landed on the ground and I have no clue what to do. I was getting hungry, too. That was just great.

I scavenged food from the men in the black armor who laughed at me earlier (who rudely made me chicken dance for each scrap of chicken). My stomach wasn't full, but it would have to do. However, another problem emerged. Nighttime.

You've just gotta love nighttime. I curled up in a ball next to a random wall. I was already dozing off in no time.

Everyone ran home to their families except for me. I felt empty-hearted and lonely.

Rain began to fall, startling me. It dripped rhythmically from the stone overhang of the wall above. I looked out and watching the water pour from the leaves of a nearby tree.

A guards who was on patrol walked over with a swagger, jabbing me with his pointy sword. I flinched and looked up at him. "Time to leave. Sorry kid," he said. My cheeks went flush and I got up, walking toward the exit of the glorious yard.

Leaving the castle, I reached new land. It was a village with just the minimal buildings, like houses, a church, farms, and a store. The buildings lay on one main gravel road (which crunched under each of my gloomy footsteps), and there were a few other roads branching off from the main road.

I walked along the road for a little ways but only saw the water dripping from the tips of my hair, taunting me. I crossed the street sluggishly, low on energy. I went behind a fenced-in grey stone building that read "Church" and then "Love and Protection." It had windows, but these were smaller. It had a stone roof though, unlike the straw roofs of most of the houses.

Leaping under the cover of slender elm trees and the building's tall roof, at last I found a dry area to curl up in for the night. This time, I fell asleep in an instant, the desperate pounding of raindrops reluctantly giving way to my pleasant dreams. Dreams of Jade.

**A/N. Bravo, bravo. There goes my first chapter. Review and favorite!**


	2. The Goblin

**A/N. How have you wonderful readers been? Thanks for looking at my next chapter! You will not be disappointed!**

I woke up straight into an extremely unpleasant situation. I'll tell it from the beginning. I was getting some rest, shutting my eyes. Suddenly, I hear a noise. Opening my eyes, I blink the flaky raindrops off my eyelids and strain my eyes at a fuzzy figure. A horrendous beast had come across the river and attacked me.

I do not exaggerate when I say horrendous. It had vomit green, flaky skin riddled with wrinkles and age spots. It reeked of sewage and crooked yellow teeth peeked out from its gnarly mouth. Its slim neck hardly suited its job and its torso was a whole another story. A grim snarl came from its mouth and its face was about as smiley as the pessimistic monster could be. Not to mention its legs, which were quite malnourished if you ask me. The beast was dressed in a tight chainmail fit for a toddler that somehow made it look strong and intimidating. It grinned at me, scaring my guts out.

Goblin (level 2) I read above its head. So it was a goblin I was facing, eh? Not a problem. Just kidding.

It swung its flail straight to my face, making scratches excruciatingly painfully. Pain coursed through my blood and so did rage. I kicked it in the groin, but it grabbed my leg mid-kick and flipped me back. It kicked me and swung its flail again, this time while I was on the ground, but it thankfully missed. The low-intelligence creature's kick had caused me to dodge the blow.

"Smarle human, die under wraf of "Goldfist! Highest goblin of East Lum'," it snarled. So his name was Goldfist. Swinging three times in a row back and forth, its flail grazed my chest, rapidly degrading my health. Blood promptly plead for help by gushing from my body. I seemed to have numbers popping up on my character. Looking up, my health bar which had once been a cheerful green was now about 75% blood red. In rage, I fought harder. I punched goldfist in the nose, making a snapping noise. "Grrrh!" he screamed. I laughed, taunting him. That was a bad idea. He punched me in the chest, knocking my wind out. I tried to run but I couldn't.

Before I could think of a retaliation for his horrid attack, Goldfist swung at me yet again. He was enjoying it, but this time, I outsmarted him, dodging behind an oak tree. The tree's fallen trunk fell towards the beast, but he unfortunately dodged it with ease. Hopping across the zone of destruction into the rain, his flail narrowly cut my groin. Needless to say, this was painful.

My health bar was at 95% blood red.

He sliced my chest yet again. I frantically flailed out my hand, not hitting anything in particular.

97% red.

He took his long, hideous nails and slid them across my stomach, spectating my last agony. I yelped in pain.

98% red.

He breathed in my face, dealing damage with just his horrible stench at that.

99% red.

I had 1% life left, and I was desperate. I kicked out, but he flipped me on my back. I caught my fall just enough to avoid death.

And then an arrow split straight through the skull of the "goblin."It fell to the ground right next to me, exasperated. His odor found its way into my nostrils. I never took the time to see who saved me.

**A/N. So, how was my second chapter? Please review! Thanks and bye!**


	3. A Savior

**A/N. So I'm just sitting here, publishing this one right after chapters 1 and 2 so I have not had time to see if I got any comments or whatnot.**

**Where should I go with these author's notes? Questions of the day? Or what?**

**By the way, do many people still play RuneScape? Have they improved the game at all? let me know.**

**Anyways, enjoy the story!**

Waking up, I felt horrible. Like a mixture of strep throat, colon cancer, a heart attack, and Lime's disease.

Well, maybe not. Because guess what – I was in the arms of Jade.

My vision slowly came back, foggy at first. I glimpsed a sliver of something pink – then it was a shirt, not just a blur.

As my eyes focused (which was painful at that), I realized whose arms were carrying me.

"What – … who - … huh - … ," I stuttered. She hushed me.

A while later, we sat down in the sunlight. Interestingly, there were no abnoxious players in the area. Just peace for us "noobs."

"Ok, what was that?! I mean I appreciated it, but it was just miraculous!" I inquired.

"I'll tell you all now, Dylan. You never went to Tutorial Island. Everyone else does, and there they learn the basics of this realm. How to survive, fight, and such.

I turned out to be a great archer. I still remember the look on the face of that ass Vannaka who thought he was everything, spitting in the noobs' faces.

But I am still a noob. My archery level is only 5. All of your levels are 1.

However, legend has it that people who skip over Tutorial Island are much more gifted. That's you, Dylan." Finishing the speech, she looked at me, waiting for a response.

It was hard to take it all in. "Wow," I simply muttered. There was nothing else to say. For now, I would just enjoy Jade's company.

Then I remembered – my health was what, about 60%? Wait – it was 1%! Goody (sarcasm intended)!

Almost seeming to read my mind, "Calm down. You'll be alright. I'm also a great healer." She always seemed to speak in a relaxing, soft, high pitch voice. Which was the opposite of what you would expect from someone who completely owned that goblin.

Apply bandages to my scarred areas, I looked up toward the sky to see my health points slowly regenerate. This prompted another question.

"How did you find me? I mean, it was the middle of the night and all."

"I will tell you if you promise not to tell anyone," she responded.

"I promise."

"Okay," she began, "I have no home. I was lying when we met in the courtyard of the castle the other day. I just wanted to seem normal to you. However, you turned out to be just like me, so I decided to really spend the time to help you."

"So you spotted me from nearby? You were sleeping in the rain?"

"Yup." She responded.

I thought of a good idea. "Why not be partners? I mean, surely training our levels would be much more fun together."

Her pretty face lit up at the idea. She only nodded her head in excitement. I thought of all the possibilities.

"Where are we?" I proceeded to ask.

"We're on the northern side of the outside of the castle walls. It's a little secret place I found the day before I first saw you. I'm only a day more experienced than you at this, you know. But the point is, it's a great shelter for the homeless."

"Are we the only homeless players of this city?" I asked.

"Yes," she responded.

How should we start becoming more productive? I wondered.

Seemingly reading my mind, Jade suggested "Let's take a day of rest so you can regain your stability. Then we can start training our levels."

The idea of no longer being a "noob" sparked an interest in me.

I knew me and Jade would have a wonderful relationship.


	4. The Woods

**A/N. I'm onto my fourth chapter! Wohoo! I plan to base this chapter on the beginning of my favorite skill, woodcutting, plus another surprise!**

**Enjoy, read on!**

Waking up the next morning, I smelled food cooking.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Jade teased.

Looking towards the aroma of the food, I saw her warming her hands by the fire. "Where did you get the logs? How did you start the fire? What –"

Cutting me off, she began to respond to my rapid-fire questions. "Woah there, slow down. Logs I found on the ground. They can be cut down from a tree. We really need to learn how to cut down trees though…And about the fire, I have a tinderbox from Tutorial Island. Although it took me about 80 times longer than it should have to make the fire, so that's another skill we have to learn."

All of it folding together, I started to understand. Tinderboxes lit logs from trees on fire, and the fire would cook food.

"Where did you get the meat?" I asked, referring to the slab of beef currently hung above the fire.

"Found it too.." she responded, starting to sound really pathetic in her survival skills. Then again, mine were no better.

"So you've been up since when?"

"About 8 o'clock, I'm guessing. It's 10 o'clock right now, in case you didn't know."

"What shall we do today?" I asked, rounding up our short conversation to the important part.

We rattled off a few possibilities but settled on learning to cut trees, since that skill was so fundamental for cooking food.

Before I go any further, allow me to explain the setting a bit. The shelter we were currently in was a crumbled watchtower, the scum of the pristine castle. It had no roof, just some fallen walls. However, it gave us plenty of cover for privacy. Our best access out of the ruined watchtower was a doorway which was now basically a gap in the decaying walls. Inside was a fire ring made by Jade. Also, the watchtower was originally used not just for defense but also for a quick way to exit the grounds of the castle. However, with no roof and therefore no 2nd story, chances weren't likely we would have such easy access into the castle grounds. I must admit, it would be a great opportunity for us.

Outside of our shelter, we were just south-west of a "General Store" and a few other significant buildings. North of that was unexplored. Southeast of that was a path winding towards the southern section of Lumbridge, where a few homes, the church, the graveyard, and the castle entrance were located. Once again, there was an unexplored area across the beautiful River Lum, as Jade calls it.

**A/N. So basically their shelter is like a hidden-away ruin south of the general store. Kind of like the remains of an outpost similar to the one opposite of the castle's entrance, except it never existed in game.**

"Lovely shelter," I commented.

"Yup." Jade and I restarted our conversation. Talking with her was always nice.

"I especially like how it is blocked from view by those giant trees right outside," I commented.

"Yup," she reassured, this time nodding her blonde head.

"So should we get on with our day?" I questioned.

For the third time, she said "Yup." Except this time, with lots of enthusiasm! We jumped up and set out.

Right outside our building, we questioned the requirements for woodcutting. "If Tutorial Island served me well, I think the required material is a hatchet."

Jade also mentioned that hatchets could be bought from any general store. Going to the general store, we bought one for 1 coin. Once again, Jade had the coin from Tutorial Island. Enough to make me envious of her Tutorial Education, huh.

Leading me west by the arm, we made our way away from the cluster of buildings on the general store's road. However, the path continued into a dense forest.

I have never seen a forest like it before. Still, I've never seen a forest. Period.

This forest featured dense growths of trees with a grassy bottom. Little to no underbrush, but perfect grass instead. It was great for walking. The ends of the sagging trees reached down just above our heads, but the canopy often extended much higher, kind of like a 50 foot umbrella. The trees themselves were a lush green. It was truly majestic.

**A/N. Yes, I know I described the trees like 80 times bigger than in game. It may not be realistic for noobs to cut them down, but just go with it.**

Still tugging me by the arm, Jade whispered my way, "Over here."

Settling on a rather short tree in particular, I removed my ax from my inventory. I gave it to Jade and watched her instruct how to do it, just like on Tutorial Island, except with a nooby teacher.

She instructed me to do a rythmic motion with the hatchet, cutting the shorter but reachable branches off first. She demonstrated, although failing too. However, I hardly noticed her demonstration. I was rather marveling at the beauty of the forest. Little ponds were scattered throughout, and it was mostly flat in all directions, giving us a wonderful, almost infinite view. For some reason, Lumbridge was nowhere in sight. But that was not my problem to worry about.

"Isn't it beautiful," I said.

"Is it ever . . ." she responded dreamily.

Getting back on task, I managed to cut down a couple of the short trees, much to my delight. I even had some fireworks go off over my head, which Jade referred to as "leveling up." She was so smart with these trivial things.

We gathered a few logs and then decided to go back because it was getting dark.

Then came the bully. Or jerk, idiot, know-it-all, hotshot, whatever you want to call him. Above his head read "xJ3rkfac3x (Level 116)." I have to admit, I thought it was comical to look at his username at first.

Then it happened. "What are you looking at, noobs?" Apparently Jade had caught his sight as well. Turning, she had a disgusted look on her defined face.

"Nothing." I replied, making sure not to provoke him.

Can you guess what happened next?

He ignored it.

"You were looking at me, huh, jerk faces!" (Ironic, huh? What a charming man.)

"We weren't!" we insisted simultaneously. Apparently we share the same quick thought process.

Before we knew it he was on us. He bore a horrendous blood-red, curved, giant ax and matching spiky armor. He even had some blinged-out colorful boots. Through his intricate, obviously expensive helm, I saw red eyes staring right back at me. No, right back_ into_ me.

Looking was even a bad idea. Realizing my situation, I started to panic. It was completely dark out by then, and Jade and I were stuck there with this "xJ3rkfac3x" guy terrorizing us.

He playfully tortured us, not literally of course, but figuratively. He threatened to chop our heads off if we moved, and proceeded to cut down trees with just one swift blow of his mighty ax. The trees continuously fell right around us, threatening our lives. We weren't even sure what would happen if we died, but we knew it was bad.

A branch came flying in my direction, but right at me, this time. I tried to dodge it, but realized that he_ really_ really did not want us to move. He had cast binding spells on us, and we were practically tied, or maybe even pressed back to back.

The branch whacked me across the face, dealing about 20% damage.

"That's enough torture. One more thing, and I'll let you scum go." He snarled at us. xJ3rkfac3x obviously possessed high magical powers, as he threw us extremely high into the air, without even touching us.

There we flew, stick stuck to the backs of each other. Flying through the swamp. So high that it was great, wonderful, perfect with Jade for a second, but also lowenough to not hit the canopy of the trees.

Flying for a second felt like paradise. Then we fell.

A drop from this high would obviously kill us. Excruciatingly.

It was dark. We were stuck together, falling. No ground could even be seen below, but I knew it was there.

_Splash! _

Jade and I's mystical spell was removed. Sighing with relief, I realized we landed in one of the ponds. I guess xJ3rkfac3x was not jerk-ish enough to kill us. Or maybe he wanted to terrorize us in the future.

Either way, we were in safety. I watched xJ3rkfac3x from afar, who had used his magic to light up the area around him. Hi suddenly cast a spell that caused a swirling vortex to lift him high into the air and make him disappear.

Disappear, into thin air.

"Jade, he just disappeared. What the actual hell was that?"

"Jade?"

Silence.

Looking beside me, I saw no one but heard splashing.

I could see nothing and realized Jade could not swim.

Poor Jade, she was drowning. I had to help her. I could not let her go. My life would be over without her, even though we only met a day or two before.

I frantically shot out my arm in the water. Out and out and out again, but nothing to hold onto. But by the fourth time, I finally caught hold of her soft hair. Bobbing underwater, I used the bottom of the shallow pond to push her up, holding her by the waist. I sort-of awkwardly used the bottom of the pond to swim-push her to the shore.

Once she was safe, I cared for my own safety as well and surface. I felt like hugging her, but decided against it.

"Jade…I'm so glad you're alright."

She coughed up a bit of water.

"That guy…he is gonna pay."

She gasped, finally regaining control of her breath.

"I don't know what I would've done if I lost you."

This time, she just looked up to my eyes and seemed to be reading me.

Yes, definitely reading me. Like a book.

We had that sort of thing going on, where we always knew what we thought. And I could tell she knew I really cared.

"I couldn't have lost you either," she finally responded.

Then there was silence for a few moments. Not awkward, nothing nearly as awkward as when we first met. This time, we just took comfort in each other's presence. We listened to the sounds of the forest and silently prayed to Saradomin, the good god, thanking him for each other's lives.

"I guess we'll have to go to sleep," I brought up.

She nodded. I hardly felt like I needed more than a nod from her to know that she cared.

With that, we curled up and slept on the forest floor.

We were in total comfort. But we had no food, were wet and cold, and were lost. Nevertheless, we had each other.

**A/N. Hmmmmmm, longer chapter, huh? Did you like? The bond between them is starting to grow. If I really spend an entire chapter on stuff like this it'll be a long story though…but whatever. I'm throwing worries to the wind. **

**Be sure to look forward to some quests within a few chapters from now!**


	5. Lost

**A/N. Hey everybody!**

**On to typing my my 5****th**** chapter! It feels like I just started. By the way, I just can't stress enough, reviews. It's hard to get much of an audience when I'm publishing in the RuneScape category. Currently I've only had 2 people read to the end.**

**Enjoy onward, you two loyal readers!**

Waking up, I was clueless on where I was. Looking around, I stared blankly at the scenery around me. It was just a green forest with a high canopy. Was I dreaming?

Oh. Now I remembered the accidents of last night. Not accidents, really, more like failures for us. We had nearly been killed by this jerk face named "xj3rkfac3x."

I shifted around and woke up Jade.

"Good morning. Who's the sleepyhead now?"

She hit me playfully, but I had to break the news to her.

We were lost.

"Jade, get up. We have no time to waste. We're lost but don't worry, maybe our orientation could tell us something. In fact, if we could just find that little rough dirt path, I'm sure we could find our way back."

"But surely we didn't come out this far. We only walked about 100 yards," Jade answered.

I pointed around us. Jade looked around, flabbergasted. Nothing was in sight, but she was correct in that we only walked about 100 yards into the forest. The forest must possess mystical properties.

"Suddenly this forest is looking very much less pretty and more foreboding. We're completely lost."

"Oh, calm down, you. We'll find our way back. Let's start now," Jade reassured. She always was so comforting.

I helped her up and we got on our way. First we walked towards the pond we had come out of the night before but then changed direction. We walked in that direction for quite a ways.

Then we changed direction again. We lost sight of anything familiar. No familiar pond, no familiar path. Just tree after tree after tree.

Then we changed directions again. We walked that way, then this way, then another way, and then gave up.

Sitting down onto a log that served as a nice bench for resting, we talked about our situation.

"Jade, I really think we need to find something. This forest is no ordinary forest. It's magical."

"Yes, yes." She nodded her head.

"But the question is, how?"

She had a quizzical look on her face. She was obviously in very deep thought, so I avoided saying anything for a few moments. After these few moments, she looked straight back at me.

"Still no ideas, huh?"

"Nope," she said.

I thought as well. When I think, I look to the sky, just like Jade. Yes, another thing I do just like Jade. You heard that correctly.

My mind started trailing off. In this forest, nothing seemed to spark any interest. There were no landmarks.

I observed the sky I had been blankly staring into for so long. Boy, the sun was bright.

I thought some more.

The sun was really starting to get in my eyes.

I thought some more again.

This damn sun was really starting to bother me.

Wait – the sun!

"The sun! The sun! The sun!" I said talking over her. She had said the same thing. That was weird.

Yes, we finally found out the solution to our problem. The sun could be used for orientation.

Recalling that the sun pointed east in the morning, we headed towards it. Thank Saradomin we had paid attention to our compasses (which were stored back at in the base, in case you need to know) when we walked around Lumbridge.

We walked for a shockingly long mile, and eventually, we reached something recognizable as man-made, a fence. It encased a huge farm filled with sheep and rams. Huh, this was an unexplored territory, I thought. I would have to explore it later. It should yield plenty of resources, like wool. **A/N. Do you get wool from sheep or do you string string from sheep into wool? I can't remember.**

We then proceeded south, knowing that our location was definitely north of Lumbridge. After about a mile of more walking, again just as shocking, we approached the general store.

"What's next?" I asked.

"Well, we could do firemaking, or train our melee. Other skills would probably be useless at this point besides cooking, of course. But cooking requires melee."

Needless to say, I settled on learning melee.

"Follow me," Jade said. She led me by the arm to our hidden-away base.

Looking at the items scattered on the ground, she grabbed a sword, a shield, and a dagger.

"Where'd you get those?" I asked, quite shocked to be modest about it.

"Tutorial Island." Figures. Curse my lack of Tutorial Island education.

She tossed me the sword, seeming to be quite trusting. She kept the dagger and the shield for herself.

"I've had some experience in melee, so a dagger should be fine for me to survive, but I need the shield because I'm a girl and am naturally more vulnerable to being injured."

"Your explanation makes so much sense," I said, impressed. She just grinned back at me.

She continued to amaze me by knowing exactly where to go.

"So today we will kill cows. They're an easy fight, not a monster or anything, according to Vannaka, the Tutorial Island tutor. But most importantly, they'll give us the food we need to survive." Jade never failed to astonish me. She was everything I needed when starting out in this realm. The funny part is, she had little to no experience in any of the skills, but she still knew so much about them, as if it was naturally engrained in her brain.

We walked side-by-side through the grove of trees to the main road. The chubster was standing there. "Stupid noobs!" he shouted. Apparently the chubster had no life beyond calling people noobs. Rather sad, really.

Then, as we approached the castle entrance, Jade suddenly tugged me to the left. We were taking a route across the river.

Knowing she would know best once again, I followed her.

That may not have been the best idea.

Once we got across the river, we immediately came up upon a mossy, ruined building. Then we saw a spider. I looked at Jade, half-confused, half-scared. My eyes were met with the same look.

Then we saw that the ground was dirt and the trees were all dead. However, the other side of the road was perfectly lush. This was getting weird.

Then we heard this: "Hiy everybody! It human who kills Goldfist! Get thim!" Interestingly enough, the voice was coming from a goblin.

Crap.

For some reason, we didn't run.


	6. Trouble Across River Lum

**A/N. Hoping this chapter will be epic. You're in for a treat!**

"Git the punie humans!" the goblins shouted, some obviously drunk on beer. They rushed toward us, covering ground at a surprisingly fast speed.

My hands trembled. I glanced at Jade. She looked twice as scared as me. I would have to take the initiative, being the male in the relationship. Plus, I had the sword.

The goblins continued to advance. Nearer now, I could spy the hate in their eyes. Almost like their eyes suddenly turned red.

That or mine did. I'm not sure. But I did yell at the advancing goblins, "You guys are all going down, one by one! You have no chance, jerks!"

Jade store me down. Her eyes said that that probably wasn't a good idea, but they also said she would love to go along with it. I liked that.

The goblins finally reached us. Jade and I broke into a sprint at one goblin in particular. He lunged at Jade right away.

Oh, did I mention how many goblins there were? A lot. An unpleasant number. Maybe 25 or so.

He slashed Jade's face with his hideous nails. "Not today!" I screamed, in rage.

I guess you could say I was seeing red.

I unsheathe my sword and slashed his face. He lunged at me, failing to utilize his sword from a longer distance. I felt the wind of his body rush past as I dodged him. His buddy came over and faced me as well. Jade had my back and was facing another foe.

His buddy threw a rock at me. It hit me in the face, but I slashed his finger off with my sword. He howled in pain. The original goblin swung his sword at me, but I dodged it with a shockingly limbo-like motion. However, he came back from the opposite direction, taking me by surprise. This blow took to my shoulder and blood spilled from the cut. I dislodged the sword painfully and grabbed it from the laughing goblin.

The goblin unfortunately took a dagger out of his pocket, but I knocked that to the ground and slashed his arm off, instead. He fell to the ground and died. His buddy came at me again with his sword. I dodged it to the left and it slammed into a tree. He dislodged it but he already had a nice slice to his cheek coming, which easily cut through his bone. He fell to the ground, dead.

I looked back, surveying the situation. Jade was fighting like a tough girl, but she had a goblin coming for her with a sneak attack from the side while she was already preoccupied with another goblin. I lunged my sword into its gut and it fell off, bleeding. He practically drowned in his pool of blood, making my kill an effortless one. At the same time, Jade stabbed her opponent with her dagger deep into its heart.

"Throw me some food!" I shouted over the drunken goblin's shouts. She chucked me a piece of leftover beef, and I quickly ate up. I noticed that the goblins were so either drunk or cocky that they were sending only a couple in to fight at a time. Little did they see of their impending demise.

I turned around to narrowly dodge an incoming blow. This one had a bronze 2-handed sword, an impressive weapon for a goblin. I shouted, "You're gonna suffer dearly for that!" right as I heard, "Don't you ever hit a girl, asswipe," from Guess-who. I stabbed him with the other goblin's dagger, knocking him back into the tree. I got a level-up for my "attack level." He quickly lunged back at me, knocking the dagger out of my hand. Defenseless for a second, he grabbed my arm and slammed me fatally into a tree. I stumbled around my inventory for my sword and got it, just in time to block 3 consecutive blows. Another goblin came from behind, and then another. Apparently the goblins were starting to come all at once, realizing our strength at last.

I lured two behind a tree, the stupid foes not knowing how to get out from their death trap. My current opponent stabbed me slightly in the stomach, but fortunately his blow lacked strength. I stabbed him back, saying "Here's a taste of your own medicine!"

The other two came out from behind a tree and stabbed me real hard in the arm. I dropped my sword but grabbed it with my other hand and easily fended their blows. I rushed one and shoved it into a tree, and it fell to the ground, stunned. I quickly rounded on my heels to meet an incoming blow from the other with a block. Another goblin came from straight ahead.

I stepped on the stunned goblin's crotch, killing him. The second goblin tasted a bit of what I call a slash to the face, but he still rallied his position. We circled for a bit but Jade had fallen nearby. I quickly stabbed him to death, making quick work so I could attend to Jade.

Then defense became second nature. I watched their attacks from out of the corner of my eye. I carried Jade over to a crevice of 5 trees right next to each other, and lay her down there. She gained HP and exited the resting zone, slamming her sword into my current opponent's neck. By then, I had about 5 stabs or so and no food. Jade's food had run out as well. Suddenly, a call from the leader goblin rung in the air. Right after I leveled up my strength to level 2, of course.

"Humans, humans, pity us. We giv out and up. Surrender, as you fools would called it." Drunken laughs rang through the air, as if they were the victorious ones, with 12 to 14 dead on the ground. The gigantic spiders simply peered up at the weird leader-goblin. So did we.

"That's it, we giv in. We sorwy."

"NO! You DON'T give in. I will NEVER let you give in. You will all rightfully die!" I screamed. They looked like they wanted to laugh, but thought it was a bad idea.

"And I second that! You STUPID, GROSS green monsters!" Jade shouted. We stood strongly, shoulder-to-shoulder.

"Well-then, how abot a grand fightt? Tomorow? Right heree?" the goblin slurred.

"It's a deal. I would shake your hand, but it's too disgusting. Good day to you." Jade "oohed" at my ownage comeback. I know, my thought process was awesome there. But I still created a problem for us. We would have a full-on fight, right there, tomorrow, and chances weren't leaning in our favor. We would need to get training, and fast.

Jade and I briskly walked away, the goblins' gazes trailing our path. We embarked back upon the path, going north to the cow fields.

"Some fight," I said.

"Yeah. I loved it. Painful, though, but my strength level went from 1 to 3. Too bad I didn't have my bow…" she trailed off. This was a prime example of why I loved Jade so much. Erm, liked.

"So, to the cows we go? I was thinking we needed to stock up for tomorrow's battle."

"Yup," she said, going with her response as cooly as ever. This would be great.

By this time, we had reached the gate. I walked in and so did she. We got to killing cows.

The cows were very easy kills. They had the same level as the goblins, level 2, but they dealt little to no damage. Plus, their defense level was lower. I quickly made way with about 20 of them, and my inventory was filled with meat and cowhides. Plus, my 3 melee levels had all gone up to level 3. We decided to continue training until all levels were level 4, which only took a bit.

Then we left. It was dark, but we fortunately got to avoid the goblins crossing the mystical River Lum by using a new bridge.

We walked back tot eh main Lumbridge road, and then into the grove of trees to the west of it. We soon came upon our little shelter and we entered.

"So shall we cook the food? How about that for survival skills!" We had a victory high-five.

Jade made another fail-fire that took 20 minutes to start, and I lined up all the meat and organized all of our fighting equipment for tomorrow. We had accumulated a variety of daggers, chainmails which could not fit us, and beer bottles, ironically. We only could make use of the daggers though.

We grabbed a stick and cooked the meat over the fire 10 at a time for two sessions. We had so much food! We were living the life!

You know, if hobos actually could live the life and all. But still, we had surplus food that could be used for healing in the battle tomorrow. Our cooking levels each went up to 5, and we could make a few more things.

We then organized the meat near our equipment.

Finally, it was time for sleep.

"So, I guess it's time to go to bed," I mentioned.

"Yeah," Jade said in her pretty, soft voice.

"Beautiful night from here, huh? A nice view and all," I commented, referring to the stars. Jade looked up in wonder.

A couple minutes passed. I visualized connections between the stars being actual things.

"I see a heart," Jade said, breaking the silence. I looked at her.

"Me too," I said.

"Dylan?" I heard.

"Yeah?"

"I love adventuring with you. Having a partner is just amazing." She was back to her shy voice she used with me. I loved it.

"Same with you." I said.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

**A/N. How u like? Feelin the emotions flowing there, huh? No? NO?! Huh? Oh, whatever. **

**I can't wait to type the next chapter…**


	7. The Battle, Plus Confessions

Waking up, I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I shook Jade and she woke too. "Good morning," I commented. I surveyed our pile of equipment and grabbed some meat. "Today's the day," I continued.

"Yes it is. I know this seems like a bad idea, but I just know that we're going to beat them. I can feel it," Jade said. She grabbed a piece of beef, eyeing it with hunger. She wolfed it down. I grabbed one too and wolfed one down myself. Health regenerated, we moved on the next task, getting the required equipment.

We did not know smithing yet, so we had no new weapons, really. Some I grabbed what I was used to, the sword, and Jade grabbed the dagger and shield, her weapon of choice from yesterday. Seeing that there were a few daggers left, we grabbed those as well. Jade got 3 and I got 3.

Then we equipped our armor, feeling prepared for the upcoming battle already. We had gotten sleep and regenerated our health, what else was to ask for? How about some food. I grabbed 15 pieces of beef and lined them up in the easiest-to-reach spots of my inventory. Jade did the same. "How's that?" I asked.

"Great. I'm ready to kick some goblin butt." With that, we set out towards the goblin ruins/village, whatever you want to call it. Once again, we passed through the grove of trees, coming out onto the main road of Lumbridge. We then walked under the cover of the overshadowing oak trees south, until we eventually reached the gates to Lumbridge Castle. From there, we turned left. We stopped at the bridge.

"Are you sure you're ready?" I questioned. Just double checking.

"If you are," Jade teased. Okay, there we went. We crossed the bridge over the River Lum, which seemed to have little-to-no current. So much, in fact, that lily pads grew on the surface of the clear water, giving the river itself a quite fairytale effect. The bridge itself was cobblestone with supports on either side. Since it crossed one of the narrow part of the river, no supports were needed in the middle. Crossing the middle hump of the bridge, the goblins came into sight.

They were as drunk as ever. Some stared at us with hateful expressions. In total, there were about 15 of the frothing monsters left. Continuing on our way, quite fearlessly, in my opinion, they began advance. "How's it going, jerks?" Jade taunted. I bet they didn't like being taunted by a cute girl. And, my prediction was right.

"Looky, punie humans tauntin us. They going to die anyway." The master responded. "But don't worry abot a thing, we give you head start!" He yelled at us sarcastically. What a clever goblin. Just kidding. He was going down.

"Hey, guess what, fools. We got some levels up last night and now we're not afraid to face you. My combat level? 6. Take that, puny level 2s!" Suddenly Jade seemed like a great spokesperson for the group…

"No, you still die numan. If they don't get you, I get you with myself. You hear what I say?" The master goblin seemed particularly cocky. I would have to make him suffer last. They began to advance at a running speed. We charged at them as well. We met somewhere in the middle in a cluster of trees.

One goblin stabbed at me but I blocked with my sword. Looking to my right, he surprise-attacked my left side. But I was too quick for him, grabbing his slimy dagger hand and squeezing it so hard he let go of the dagger. He pitied for mercy but I had no choice because four goblins slammed me from behind. Immediately I sliced one's chest, dealing half of hit hitpoints. He lunged at me simultaneously with his partner, who was on my other side. I jumped back and to the right, next to a tree. One swung really hard, but I dodged it and it stuck in the tree. I used the opportunity to chop his arm off at the limb. It fell to the ground like a waterfall. I charged him, stabbing him in the groin. He fells to the ground in pain and died after a few moments. The other goblin got me from behind, but not enough to penetrate the skin significantly. I threw a dagger at him, and it stuck in his chest. He stabbed at me weakly, but the pain from the dagger constricted his attack. I easily dodged, ran up to him, and grabbed the dagger out.

Another goblin attacked me again and I blocked his blow. This monster in particular was going crazy with hits, not stopping. He was apparently very skilled with a sword for a goblin. Too bad I decapitated his head, creating a fountain of blood that collapsed to the ground in a messy heap. Yes, dead.

"Take that! Hiya!" Jade yelled comically, like she was doing karate. Very funny; she was obviously doing it intentionally. I realized that these goblins were actually quite easy for us. We weren't as nooby anymore and they suddenly got a lot easier as my defense and attack levels rose simultaneously.

The remaining goblin from before stabbed a dagger right near my shoulder, but I too blocked his wrist using my hand. I flipped him to the ground. He ground as he was impaled with the ground's gruesome broken beer bottles. Then another two came right as one, forcing me to back away from them. I bumped into Jade, and she too was being closed in. Apparently they learned some strategy. One got a quick one at me, impressively stabbing my shoulder, although it was still just as painful. I stabbed at him, and he dodged. I brought down my sword on the other one's head, really, really hard. But it failed to affect him. Then the one from before shoved me into Jade, pushing us to the ground.

I landed in a push-up position, except with Jade right beneath me. She breathed heavily, and so did I. The rough dirt contrasted her beautiful, luscious blonde hair well. You could feel the steam, the chemistry, the potential from this close. She smiled at me. I smiled back, entranced by her gaze. She read my eyes, like they were a mystery and she was unsure where they would take her. But I knew I would have taken her wherever she wanted. Her lips and eyelashes were perfectly shaped, like they were intricately carved from stone. She had a nice chin and neck area as well, and a fit collarbone. Her cheeks were flush and she smelled kind of like a warm spring breeze. She looked utterly beautiful in her outfit, a short white skirt and a pink shirt. "You look pretty," I said modestly. She sighed in pleasure, but then her face frowned, as a goblin shoved me off. She pounced up like a wily cat and stabbed him 3 times in separate areas, defeating all of his hitpoints and putting them to shame, obviously mad for ending our moment.

There were only 2 goblins left besides the leader goblin. We each took one. Mine lunged his sword right to my heart, but I jumped back just in time. It did so again, but this time I shot forward and to the right and I slashed at his sword, blocking it from further blows. He tried to swing it but I kept him from doing so and tripped him. He fell but jumped up again, seemingly defying the fact that he was drunk off his ass. He shoved me hard, like a bully, and I rammed into a tree. I became winded and struggled to block his taunting blows. But that's it, they were taunting, he could have dealt some serious damage if he wanted to. He was just playing with his food.

I watched Jade stabs hers in the heart and it fell. She looked to me and gasped, shocked. Don't worry Jade, I'm fine, I would have said if I wasn't winded. She took my goblin by surprise with a blow to the side and he jumped on her. My winded, stunned effect finally wore off and I threw a rock into his head, distracting him. He turned to me and charged, but like a matador does to the bull, I dodged the foolish green lump of ugliness and pushed his backside toward a tree. He slammed into the tree and I ran and shoved him into it again. I slashed back and forth 5 times with Jade positioned behind me like a bodyguard as I finally got my kill.

"They're gone. Wooh. Too tired to celebrate." She gasped between breaths. But there was one more, the leader, and he charged at us. "Snarly humns. They will dies now. Me going to defeat them if my other cannot." We heard him and looked at each other. Charge at him, we communicated, and we charged. Extremely fast, enough to blow any monster off its feet. A kind of charge a professional football player takes when he is being closed in on around the 20 yard line. We jumped to the side of his sword and rammed into him, knocking him down. We both stamped our feet down on him. He swung his sword but I swung mine, knocking it out of his hand.

"What shall we do with the troublemaker?" Jade wondered to me.

"Hmm….chemical burns? Shoot him with flying projectiles? Burn him? Shove spikes through his body?"

She held her chin in comtemplation. Obviously, we were joking, but he looked very scared.

We had an "ahah!" look and turned and sliced him and stabbed him. He groaned in pain and died. As he died, he muttered, "Stuped humans. Never minding own business." Well, that's how that ended. We looked around. It was a whole different place without a goblin infestation. Lumbridge would probably thank us. Sure enough, a man in a blue outfit crossed the bridge.

"Oh my god! Thank you so much for that! Those pesky goblins, they've…" he had reached us by then. "They've been infesting eastern Lumbridge forever! I'll have to get you recognized by the duke! **A/N. Is there a king of Lumbridge? Or just the duke? Again, can't remember. **For now, I'll just take down your names and your address. We wrote our names, Jade and Dylan, on his little tablet. However, we had no homes.

"We're homeless," Jade said, blushing.

"Homeless?!" the guide asked, astonished. "That can't be! You've done such a wonderful thing for the people of Lumbridge, and I witnessed the whole thing. How about we hook you up with a house in Lumbridge, free of charge for your actions?"

Jade's mouth was gaping, and so was mine. It was a miracle!

"Yes, yes, oh yes! Yes!" She shouted. So did I. The Lumbridge Guide seemed entertained.

"Well then, how about we meet at noon tomorrow in the castle?" he asked. We could have a public recognition ceremony, then a commemoration dinner, and you could meet all of the staff and royalty. Does that sound good?"

Seeing all the opportunities in the offer, I obviously took it. "Yes, yes, and yes once again! We're truly thankful, Lumbridge Guide. What is your name, by the way?"

"My name? Oh, it's Julias. Just ask me again if you forget, people find it hard to remember."

"Okay, sounds good. I guess we'll see you tomorrow!" I said.

"Bye!" the guide waved.

"Bye!" Jade said. We turned around and headed north towards the northern bridge.

"So, that was quite a battle…did you like it?"

"Yeah!" she said. She looked nervous, like she wanted to talk about something. I knew what it was. I asked to go over to sit next to the river and watch the sun set. She agreed willingly. We walked over and took a seat on a log.

"You know what, Jade? I've noticed something. When I'm with you, I feel like there's a tension between us." I gazed out onto the calm river, which reflected beams of multicolored lights to us. She gazed into my eyes with wonder. But she nodded.

"Not a tension of awkwardness, or something else…" I trailed off, continuing my rant. Let me tell you this, I had fallen in love with Jade. The way she talked, such a pretty voice, like music to my ears. The way she felt about me, obviously caring no matter what, even if she didn't have as deep of chemistry towards me. The way she looked, her whole body, everything, picture perfect. Her body, how it curved, nothing too wide, nothing too thin, but everything was defined and ideal for me. At first I was confused, but since then Saradomin had made it clear to me. I needed Jade. I wanted her. I had a lust for her, a huge lust. I admit it.

Now I was about to tell her my feelings. I felt like the air around my was pressing on my face. I stuttered a bit, but I'm sure she hardly noticed.

"Something good. Something I love about you, Jade. A tingly feeling I get whenever you talk. Falling on top of you today made me realize that now is the time to _reach for your goals_. That's just it, I love you Jade. From the day we met, I knew I liked you, but since then, my emotions have just been bubbled up inside. I have nowhere to put them except here." I paused, taking in the scenery. The sky was a mix of greys, purples, blues, reds, yellows, and oranges. The ducks swam on the river, causing ripples to flow throughout the still water. The goblins had disappeared since our battle, and everyone had gone home. Everyone but us. There was an complete silence, even nature had been listening to my plea.

"Jade, I love you, and I always will. If we did end up together, I would need nothing else in my life. We could keep up the homeless style and I would be the happiest man in the city. You're just so pretty, nice, you have a great personality, and I love you. But please – I'm desperate to know. I just _need_ to know - how do you feel about me?"At first, I glanced at the scenery but I couldn't help it. I scooted toward Jade and looked her in the eye to see how she _really_ felt. I knew I could tell if she told a lie.

She didn't. But her cheeks were flushed and her hands were grasping sawed-off branches of the log. She looked nervously to the sunset for help. But then she looked away, disgusted by her need for help. She was going to go for it. Here she goes – "Dylan…there's so much to say…so much to take in," she glanced at me as I did before but I held eye contact. No one was in sight, complete privacy. The yellows and oranges had begun to fade away. Now was the time to shine, or never. I could see the hope in her eyes.

"Dylan, I love you. I love you so much…you've just made my day, no, my lifetime. You're my dream guy too. I think we must be destined to be together…chills run up my spine when you talk, that deep, lusty voice, calling out not what you are saying but rather 'Jade, Jade, I love you!' I just needed some time to figure out a way to approach my love for you…but you've even solved this problem for me. This is amazing. Dylan, you're the best guy I could have dreamed for…" The sunset's warm colors disappeared, and it was all bright blues and purples. The mystical sunset began to dawn on night, and the moon shone its reflection on the river. The river called out to me, do something. The ducks perked their heads up, looking at me in a seemingly convincing way.

I turned. This time, she had the eye contact. She pressed herself up against me, and I could feel the shape of her beautiful body. I dominated the war of eye contact and she stared into mine again. We had full connection.

I wrapped my arms around her. She smiled romantically, slyly biting her lip. I twirled her hair around my finger, and she wrapped an arm around me. "God, you look stunning."

Then I leaned in closer. She wrapped another arm around me. The fading sunset to our left, I leaned in even closer. My face was only two inches from hers, but I still couldn't see any flaws. "I love you," I whispered lightly and then went for it.

Our lips pressed, and it was like a firework had gone off. Our love automatically became 3 times more passionate in only a second or two. My liips explored new boundaries and my hands reached up to her soft head of hair. My, was that the softest hair I knew. It was perfect, like wisps of fog. I gently stroked her. Her fingers gently massaged my back and I came out for air. I was overwhelmed with pleasure, like a great tidal wave of it had washed upon us. I placed soft kisses up and down her cheeks and she scooted so close that she was on my lap. She playfully pinched my left ear. I passionately kissed her further, this time doing much more tongue. Our tongues going to war, fighting for dominance. They wrestled for a good minute. She grabbed my shirt for balance and pulled in harder. Her head trying all new positions, she was loving it. It was pure ecstacy. Just imagine professing your love for your crush and then having an intimate kissing session afterwards…so it was wonderful. Eventually, I gently pulled away, stroking her soft cheek. "I love you too," she whispered.

That night was a great one. It marked the beginning of our relationship.

**A/N. Cheesy? Passionate? Awesome? Stupid? Let me know and I can fix things. Did it start too quickly? I frankly have no clue as the writer…you might have even read up to this point in only 10 minutes…**

**Don't forget to leave a comment with a suggestion. Bye!**


	8. The Awards Assembly

**A/N. Hey everybody, DatRandomGuy here with another update. About last chapter, I friend said it was a tad corny and I want to know what you think. Did you like it or hate it? Leave a review. Onwards!**

The next morning, I woke up on the soft, rubbery grass of our shelter. The sun was already up fairly high in the sky as I began to recall the events of the day before.

Jade and I had first killed a gigantic hoard of goblins, which was a very difficult task. Then, we were approached by the Lumbridge Guide, who was in awe at our accomplishments against the infestive goblin society and vowed to give us a new home and lots of pride and glory in front of the town the next day, today. However, the true highlight of my night was telling my beautiful Jade that I loved her and kissing her in front of the sunset. But today's task was to attend our public recognition ceremony.

"Good morning," Jade said, interrupting my thoughts for the day, although I was very glad to hear her voice.

"Good morning to you too," I said, "What shall we do today?" I pointed my arms in general directions, suggesting we could do anything. We did have some time after the ceremony.

"We'll have to take it as it comes…" Jade said. I had to agree with her on that. We could decide as we went, right now preparing for our public recognition ceremony was a priority.

"OK, then let's prepare for our recognition ceremony." We walked towards our pile of supplies and picked up some meat. Luckily for Jade, she did not have to cook this morning since we had leftover beef. Although we were getting fairly skilled at cooking. We would need to learn firemaking next.

Jade and I ate. "I'm not wearing armor," she declared. "I would rather look good for the audience. I had to go with her on that.

"Me too," I said. That meant we were already dressed in our clothes for the ceremony.

Speaking of that, Jade was dressed in her classic pink shirt and short white skirt. I, myself, was dressed in a navy button-down tunic and some skinny grey slacks that matched well.

Now that we were officially dressed and we had satisfied our hunger, we decided to leave for the ceremony. It would start at 10:30 **A/N. Not sure if I specified a time in the last chapter if I did and 10:30 is wrong, just go along with it and don't complain.. **We exited the protective walls of our ruined shelter from the outside world.

Exiting the grove of trees, just like the average hobo, Jade and I walked through the pasture. Boy, Lumbridge sure was bustling…I wondered why. Maybe because they wanted to see the "noobs" who defeated the entire goblin civilization.

We made our way to the main, sturdy cobblestone road that ran through Lumbridge and went south. We had not even gone 20 yards when suddenly we were confronted by the chubster.

Yes, this was the chubster who had no life, was fat, and constantly called people noobs for no apparent reason. And he was drunk off his ass.

Stumbling towards us, he yelled to me, "Hey noob buddy! I've got a little surprise for your noob girlfriend!"

Looking at Jade, she looked disgusted. Like she had seen a fat tarantula covered in fecal waste eating a banana. Or the chubster.

Suddenly, the drunk chubby man yelled something quite strange in a very tribal manner. "PREPARE YOUR ANUS!" he said and charged at us.

What the hell, was the only thing I could think. Jade flinched at the oncoming fat man but I blocked her with my protective body. Fortunately for us, the chubster was drunk and missed us pathetically. It was as if a football player had gone to a game under the influence and had tried to tackle his coach but failed. He didn't show any humiliation, however, and continued his strange rant.

"Your anus…you must prepare it…NOW!" Again, he charged. However, he stumbled once more and missed us, this time looking even more pathetic. Jade was no longer disgusted but we laughing. I looked at her and grinned and we keeled over in laughter. Our "hahahas" rang out among the Lumbridge citizens, attracting attention.

We advanced under a few citizen's amazed eye. They knew who we were, that was for sure. Once we neared the palace, the crowd got thicker than you could imagine. The guards saw us and called out, "Subjects approaching!" as they pulled back the crowd with their stick. Cheers met us.

Before I continue, let me explain our accomplishment. Goblins had infested Lumbridge for as long as anyone could remember in the 3rd Age. Nobody dared to bother them because they always reproduced at a ridiculous rate and seemed to be indefeatable. The people of Lumbridge never wanted to address the topic, so they eventually just left it alone. Besides, most of them were not combat-oriented. Hopefully you can see the overwhelming weight of our accomplishment to Lumbridg. We did them a huge favor, and they were paying us for it bigtime.

The crowd's cheers encouraged me to jump up onto the stage and I pulled up Jade onto the stage as well, of course not forgetting to be a real gentleman. The duke himself was up on the stage and firmly shook each of our hands. He sat us down and explained our deed in great detail, so I'll skip most of it. However, he started with, "These people may seem like the average adventurers, but they actually have done a deed larger than life for the people of Lumbridge. This is why we gather today, to commemorate their contributions."

Halfway through the speech, I nudged Jade. "Look who's in the audience," I muttered under my breath. It was xJ3rkfac3x. She saw him and got a scared look but I held her hand and the look went away.

After finishing his speech, the duke began to interview us. "How did you meet?" he asked.

I took this one. "It was my first day in Lumbridge, Jade's second. We were both in this very square we are standing in, and I was clueless. She looked very welcoming to help, however, so I asked her for some advice on what to do. She was a real help!"

The audience applauded and the duke cut them off with another question. "What inspired you to fight the goblins in Lumbridge?"

"Well, that dates back to my first night in Lumbridge, the same day as I met Jade. As you surely know, we are homeless and I was spending the night in the rain. As I fell asleep, Jade saw me from nearby. Shortly thereafter, a goblin approached and attacked me. I was this close to dying," I said, making a pinching gesture with my hand. "Luckily, Jade had her bow and arrow and sent an arrow straight through the goblin's skull. That was also the time I knew I could put my trust deep in Jade. She could have easily missed and killed me with her archery level, but she didn't she must have really cared."

"Wow, what a story. So were there any events leading up to your final rampage against the goblins?" Of course, this was once again the duke questioning us.

Jade took this one. Speaking up, she began, "We decided to train our combat on cows so we could get a steady food supply. On our way, the drunk creatures confronted us. We really took a beating, but it was worth it. We killed about 12 in that instance but there were still some leftover so we fled to heal. We came back the next day and they had little-to-no reinforcements, luckily. That enabled us to defeat them quickly, even their pathetic leader, now that we had our improved combat levels."

"What was the leader like?" the duke questioned. This question seemed to intrigue him most.

Jade took this one as well. "He was arrogant, and not much better than the other goblins. He was just like them really, except bossier. The goblins decided to give in to him because of this. He was perhaps the easiest to defeat. It was sad in a perspective, considering that we have you, a magnificent ruler, as the ruler of Lumbridge." Ending on a sweet note, Jade and I gave a smile to the duke.

"Okay, now it's time for the good part!" an announcer declared. The audience roared in approval as the duke went to sit down and we stayed standing. "The first reward is…" A bard with a drum played a drumroll for a few seconds. "A new house for our homeless friends!" Everybody went crazy. As in, mosh pit crazy, or maybe even as far as the chubster crazy! They screamed their approval. We sure had a fan or two. "Our adventurers, Jade and Dylan, will be reciving that house everyone envies – the one right at the southern end of Lumbridge's main road! Tucked away in the heart of downtown Lumbridge, this 3-story tower of a house features 2 bedrooms, a full kitchen, a full bathroom, a rooftop garden, a balcony overlooking River Lum and the Lumbridge swamp, and a large living room! It has top-of-the-line wood and white siding giving it a homy feel, and it is protected by two huge yew trees. This should be a great home for our couple of saviors!" I blushed with pride and so did Jade. I looked at her and thought, This is awesome. I agree, she responded. The crowd shouted and clapped.

"Our next prize for the heroes is an easy one—1000 gold pieces! This should be plenty to give them an economic head start!" Everyone cheered except for xJ3rkfac3x. I wondered if he was jelly, or if he had anger issues. Probably both. Either way, I was definitely excited.

"Our final prize for our couple is full access to Lumbridge castle – any feast, or if they just want to talk to me, use the bank, or consult a worker. That means that you, Dylan and Jade, are invited to attend the duke's upcoming birthday party! Just RSVP with the chef." This was another great prize, and I high-fived Jade. This was awesome. I couldn't wait to dive into all the rewards. Pretty soon, we would be able to start training.

**A/N. How did you like it? Leave a review. A good relief for you guys who thought the last chapter was corny, as well as you guys who like a little humor. Do we want some love birdy stuff or serious plot progression? Let me know!**

**P.S. Prepare your anus! (My new slogan for me and my friends)**


	9. The Cook's Assistant

**A/N. This chapter will be around the quest "the cook's assistant." I hope you like it!**

**P.S. Prepare your anus for some reading!**

After the event ended, many people approached us and met us. Nothing significant happened, except xJ3rkfac3x did walk away in shame without batting an eye. Someone was a little butthurt.

After the event itself, we approached the duke about when his birthday party would be. He said it would be in a week and that we could RSVP and get more information from the chef. We decided to do so and walked into the castle.

I had never been in the castle before. It was a good experience and featured brilliant architecture. It had perfectly rectangular prisms of stone slabs as bricks and support arches on the high ceiling, giving the building much more definition. The windows were wide and tall and made it feel like home. Guards roamed about, protecting the sanctuary, and the walls were hung with decorations. We walked to the left after entering the castle and entered the left hallway. Then we went down the hallway and entered the chef's kitchen.

The chef was a brawny man with a big belly. He wore a cheerful blue-and-white pinstripe shirt, a long, dangling apron, white pants, and the tallest chef's hat I had ever seen. He had friendly, rosy cheeks and welcomed us in openly. "Hello! I am the chef of Lumbridge castle!" he greeted and waddled over to us. "I heard about your accomplishments. I am very proud of you and appreciate what you did."

"Thank you! Allow me to introduce ourselves. I'm Dylan and this is Jade. We came into this world only a few days ago but we are looking to lead a fun life together. We came here to RSVP." The chef's face lit up like a lightbulb was over his head and he had to tell us about something.

"Before you RSVP, I have a little task I would really appreciate.." he said, half-whispering to us. I'm not sure why he was so secretive. Perhaps he was embarrassed of asking us newbies for help. "I have a job for you that would be a perfect fit. I need you to gather some supplies quickly so I can make a huge cake for the duke's birthday. And I mean huge, so it will take forever to make. However, I am in desperate need of the ingredients and am too preoccupied to get them."

Jade and I smiled at each other and willingly took the task. "Of course we'll do it!" I said, speaking for both of us. "We'll just need a little further instruction," I suggested.

"Great!" He vouched. "We have no time to waste! Let me tell you what to collect. You will need a gigantic egg, some super-fine flour, and some top-quality milk. That probably sounds all too specific for you. Let me elaborate. By a gigantic egg, I mean an egg that is only laid by the finest of hens. Let me let you in on a secret; Farmer Fred's place has the best gigantic eggs in all of RuneScape." I took a mental note of all this information.

**A/N. I'm going off the book on this quest, and I think I would prefer that for quests kind of as a break for my creative mind.**

"Then you will need flour that is super fine. I'm sorry, but only the finest flour will be accepted for the cake. Get super-fine flour by using this pot." He handed us an ordinary pot. "The important part is that the flour comes from the grain north of Farmer Fred's place at Millie Miller's mill. She only grows the finest grain, and she has an excellent milling facility. Her flour should do." Taking note of that, he continued. "Finally, you will need some top-quality milk. This one is simple; just go to the prized award-winning cow in the cow field north of the goblin ruins and milk it into a bucket. It seems to always create the best-tasting milk." Finally finishing his lecture, he thanked us again. "Thank you for all your help. With that, I think you can begin." We shook his hand and he smiled and turned. So did we, and we backtracked out of the castle into the courtyard.

From there, we went north toward Farmer Fred's place. We passed a few houses, the combat training facility, and the general store along the way. It turns out that the field of sheep and rams we saw when we got lost belonged to Farmer Fred. As we neared his house, we recited what we would say. We entered his gate, careful not to let the energetic chickens exit. We knocked on his door, even though we saw the large egg. We didn't want to steal it, after all.

"Hey!" an energetic but very friendly man opened the door and yelled a greeting at once. We recognized him from the audience at our awards ceremony.

"Hi, it's us again!"

"Ahah, Jade and Dylan! Come on in and let me introduce myself." We walked into his place and got seated at a cozy dinner table next to a fireplace. "My name is Farmer Fred and I own the sheep field to the left of this here building, the chicken coup out front, and the small farm out back, if you have seen it. If you would like, you could use my property for your own benefit at any time. I would be honored to help out heroes like you."

We explained our predicament and the quest the cook had sent us on. "Ahah," Farmer Fred exclaimed, understanding things fully. "Let me show you the egg." He guided us to the chicken coup in front.

"It's that one right there. Feel free to take it!" he exclaimed. We took it and thanked him as we left. He waved.

Now we were off his property. "Here, take an offering, love. A giant, heavy egg for your pack!"

"Gee, thanks! I'm so flattered!" Jade exclaimed sarcastically. She still had to take the egg at my clever joke.

We continued north to the wheat fields. I opened the gate for Jade and we picked some flour together. Entering Millie Miller's mill, I shouted out to her, "Mind if we use your mill?"

"Sure, go ahead. Anything for you two heroes!" I could get used to this, not having to introduce ourselves and all. "However, may I question what your current situation is?" she asked curiously, sensing something was up. We explained the chef's predicament. Overall, Millie Miller was extremely helpful and guided us on how to mill the flour. I'm sure the skill would come in handy eventually.

After gathering the super fine flour in the pot, we went outside. "Another offering, love." She grunter and took the pot from my lazy arms. We headed south and then east, enjoying the scenery on the way. The bird flew above us in the blue sky and perched in the tree. I grabbed hold of Jade's hand and she entwined he fingers around mine. Walking as one, we went south towards downtown Lumbridge and crossed the north bridge. We came upon the familiar cow field and found the cow.

At least this time, we didn't need to interact with anyone. We simply took the milk and were done with that. Exiting the field, Jade asked, "Take this one too, huh?"

"Nah, I'd love to carry it for you." Obviously I was fake-contributing. Give me some fake-credit. We walked south, and this time the goblins were not there to harm us. People grinned at us cheerfully, hinting their satisfaction with no goblins in the area.

Once we arrived at the castle, the first hints of the sunset were occurring. We quickly went in to visit the chef.

"It only took you one day, huh? That's pretty amazing. I think I'll give you a reward!" He handed us a bag chock-full of coins. "Thank you for that! You were a big help. Also, feel free to use my range any time you want. I'll give you a hint: it magically improves your chances of cooking something successfully!"

"Thanks to you to! It was a pleasure." I waved my hand.

"Until the duke's birthday party, see ya!" the cook exclaimed. We exited the building and once again retraced our steps to the then-dark courtyard.

"Kiss under the sunset!" I said and grabbed an unexpecting Jade. She squirmed at first but gladly gave in to my peck and kissed me. We held hands and walked out onto the road. There it was, our magnificent new house.

**A/N. Give me some tips and criticism. Also tell me what I'm good at. Thanks!**

**P.S. Prepare your anus!**


	10. The New House

**A/N. Sorry for all the prepare your anus jokes in the last chapter…I couldn't help it. Anyway, if you leave a review with a quest you'd like to see (beginner's, Lumbridge area only!) that would be appreciated.**

Running towards the house, Jade and I raced to see who would get there first. We tied and she unlocked the door using the key we had received at the awards assembly.

The house was white with a dark wooden trim giving it a lot of character. The foundation layer was stone and there were double doors on the porch. There was a porch and above it were some windows. It was a basic rectangular house, but it was very tall. To be exact, it was 3 stories, and it was the tallest building in Lumbridge. The roof was regularly curved at the edges but had a roof garden for farming in the middle. The roof was light wood planks with straw for protection from the elements. The third story was small and there was a balcony taking up a quarter of it. The roof was an l-shape with the garden at the crook.

"I love it!" Jade shouted in joy and I followed her into the house. The first story was very homey, with a fireplace/living room and seating areas on the right. To the left was a wall hiding away the kitchen for aesthetic purposes. In the back was a giant window overlooking the fence to the swamp and a staircase looking out upon the parlor. There were bookshelves in the corner.

The second story was just as cool as the first. It featured a small guest bedroom with just the basics, a small bed, a table with a lamp, and a wardrobe. The guest bedroom had nice windows with good views over Lumbridge and the church. To the left was a master bathroom, which featured a bath and a shower (yes, _and!_), a toilet, a sink, good tile flooring, and some nice storage cabinets. Between the two closed-off rooms was a reading area to save space.

The third story was my favorite since it was like a little private paradise for me and Jade. Once again with windows evenly spaced around everywhere, we had a great view of Lumbridge and the swamp, and we could even see the Al-Kharid desert to the east of the city. There was a large bed with bedposts, two dressers, a mirror, a sitting area with a couch, and a walk-in closet. Jade, as I predicted, walked straight into the closet. "Wow! You can store so much stuff in here!" I could hear her from afar. I was admiring the noble bed. Perhaps the best part was being able to share a bed with Jade, to be perfectly honest with you. Also, the seating area was quite nice, and you could see the tops of all the buildings from it.

Overall, our new place was in mint condition and we loved it. It had great lighting and a virtually endless view of the surrounding area. We even spotted a quarry for mining to the south, beyond the reaches of the muddy swamp. By then, it was nighttime.

Jade was resting on the bed so I went over to her and tugged her up into my arms. I kissed her and teased her mouth with my tongue. She did not resist my unexpected assault on her privacy, but rather kissed back. "Did I ever tell you how soft your lips are?" I asked.

"No," she said, even though the question was just an affectionate compliment. I decided to venture with her to the roof garden. We could do some serious farming on it, it was more spacious than expected. It even had a storage area and a place to sit at a table. We sat up there for a while, enjoying some water we got in our new cups from the tap. Eventually, we decided to go to sleep. Jade fell asleep with her arms around me.

The next morning, we got up and cooked some breakfast from our fully stocked pantry of meats and breads. After our hardy meal, I invited Jade outside. However, as soon as we left the house, we could hear a shout at us from the graveyard.

"Hey, you! Come over here!" Not knowing any better, we advanced into the graveyard. We were met by an old woman with a face coated in battle scars. Her tough features suggested that she would ask us to do something hard.

"Hey, adventurers! You guys look capable of completing the task on hand, also my predicament. My name is Xenia and I have someone helpless for you to rescue from these catacombs. Let me give you a bit of background. There was a girl named Ilona who aspired to work at the Wizard's Tower near Draynor Village. One day, as she was walking towards the tower to train her magic level, a few unjust foes dodged out from the cover of darkness and grabbed her. She screamed, but she was helpless, like a caterpillar under the force of a foot. This was documented by Draynor journalists.

Her attackers turned out to be a trio of cultists rumored to operate out of these catacombs." She gestured toward a mysterious entrance to a burial chamber. Apparently, it was no burial chamber, but rather a dungeon entrance. "These cultists were no nice people. They have kept her in there for a week or so. They are surely feeding her, for what it the point of kidnapping a victim and starving them if you could have just starved them to begin with?

I need you, loyal adventurers, to help me rescue innocent Ilona. I would myself, but my body has grown old and wary with age, and I love to see some new adventurers take charge! I know you can do it; I recognize you from the awards ceremony!"

I turned and stared at Jade, but she just shrugged. "What the heck," she said. "Of course we'll do it!" Xenia's face bore a grin from side to side.

"Perfect! Finally adventurers brave enough to take on the task! Don't worry, you'll be alright. Let me instruct you how to do the quest. All I need you to do is free Xenia and kill or preferably capture the cultists, who are in there with her. I also have an additional challenge for you, if you wish to take it on as well. If you can find an entrance to a cave filled with monsters from the catacombs and enter it, make sure to look for gem statuettes because I will buy them off of you for lots of money. Also, if you come across the mask of dragith nurn, I could use one of those as well."

"Okay, so recover Ilona, get gem statuettes, and find the mask of dragith nurn, check. Is that correct?" I confirmed. Xenia nodded in confirmation. I turned to Jade for any last comments, and she had no objections. "Thanks for the quest opportunity! We'll see you when we're out."

I grabbed Jade's hand and stepped down into the narrow entrance of the dreaded catacombs…


	11. The Blood Pact Part 1

**A/N. Thank you so much to Dwagonshy for being my first reviewer! Do you guys like the romance thing? I really appreciate your support and enjoy the chapter!**

**P.S. Check out my friend Dman441! Search "Demigods among us" in that search area above! It's a story about Percy Jackson! Thanks for reading Dman!**

Jade's hand shook with nerves as we went farther and farther from the disappearing sunlight. Xenia's creepy, smiling face grinned down at us evilly. The walls started to close in on us, but not literally, of course. The stairs turned into a tight squeeze so we squeezed through the hole in the wall separately. Good thing we were both lean.

Opening up on the dimly lit catacombs, the first thing I noticed was that the walls were of natural tan stone, unlike regular, grey stone which would have been more boring. The path got wider and closed down until it was just a small entrance. Then the cave opened up again.

The room we were in was an engineering wonder. How could they have gotten such tall pillars into the catacombs? It must have been magic. Either way, there were 20 foot pillars scattered throughout the room as a sign of power. The ground was a light tan-dark tan checkerboard pattern, and stalagmites dripped water from the top. Small crevices in the surrounding walls stored supplies for fighting, a sign of definite human life. Suddenly I spotted a small group of other people across the room.

Jade opened her mouth to say something, but I covered it with my lips in a kiss. Nothing could silence her better, even though it was a cheesy method. I dragged her behind the thick pillar and released my lips, putting the shushing finger over my mouth before she could question what that was about. I pointed towards the people and we peeked out. We could just hear what we were saying.

"What should we…this one…" the leader said, muffled but obviously pointing at Ilona.

"I don't know…about…" the other boy of the trio brought up. "It's…bad…idea." There were so many pillars in the room that me and Jade ran behind a closer one without being spotted. The cult leader, Reese, reprimanded Kayle, saying "You do not ever…insult leader. Blood pact…binds you to do so." I put piece and piece together and realized that the blood pact was probably some kind of evil promise to do a duty to Zamarok. And they were probably needing Ilona for a sacrifice. I sacrifice! How horrible would that be? We needed to save her! Jade looked at me, thinking of the same thing and making a nervous face.

Throughout the entire encounter, we had learned a lot about the personalities of the cult members, which could prove useful when fending them off. The mage, whatever her name was, was quiet but used the quality as an advantage to gather more information and become one step ahead of the game. She was an ideal crafty mage. The leader, named Reese, was arrogant and thought he was all-that. He liked to take charge in a relationship as well as simply boss people around. He possessed great physical strength but lacked in craftiness, so he functioned best as a fighter. The ranger, Kayle, was a good thinker who just got in with the wrong crowd. He was willing to speak his opinion on any point but did not always choose to do so.

The trio left the room, dragging their slave Ilona with them. "I hope she doesn't get sacrificed soon," Jade whispered, afraid that talking would make it within earshot of the cult. Deep down, I had a foreboding feeling in my stomach.

"Yes, we'll need to find a way to save her, and fast. Given their teamwork, I doubt the cult could be defeated just by stealing Ilona from them. That means we'll need to fight them," I said. Jade nodded. "Follow me," I projected quietly.

I crept along the lines of thick pillars, making sure to remain fairly inconspicuous to anyone who would burst through the door at any moment. We once again approached the end of our current room and peeked through the passage of the next room.

Through the door, I could see the ranger, Kayle, but no one else. Not wanting to turn back and get cornered, "It's now or never," I whispered. He did not see us until we had almost attacked him. Again, I crept alongside the pillars in the room. Time seemed to pass more slowly than ever as we made sure to make no noise.

Suddenly, light the first clap of thunder in a storm, we hopped from the shadows. I charged to the left and made a battle cry as Jade shot an arrow at the ranger. I sprinted towards him with my sword held high and he shot an arrow that impailed my arm, dealing a bit of damage. Jade's arrow stuck into his leg, disabling him for a second.

He shot another arrowat me, trying to hold me off as long as possible, but still missing. I hated it when rangers manipulated their warrior opponents like that. But I loved it when the blade of my sword cut through their armor like leather, dealing high amounts of damage. I did just that, right near the heart, but he pushed me away towards a pillar. Apparently he had a lot of hitpoints.

My body helplessly flew backward into the pillar. I was stunned and I flailed for help, but fortunately Jade distracted Kayle before he could finish me off. They shot arrows from close range, but being so close meant they easily dodged eachother's aim. They shot numerous arrows, dancing about in a rhythmic circle, until finally Jade penetrated one into his chest. He fell to the ground and I hopped up, running over to him. _Slam._ With one quick, easy blow to the head he died and lay there, stagnant.

"Some fight," I said, knowing the violence for the day was far from ending.

"Yeah," Jade agreed with enthusiasm. "Let's go to the next room. By the way, I'm going to switch to Kayle's sling, it seems to be much better than my training bow, and besides, I was running low on arrows." **A/N. So sorry about how Kayle was using a bow and arrow! Please just try to ignore it. **

We walked down the room, guarded by pillars. We reached the end of the room and cautiously walked through a narrow entrance. We entered a narrow, tall hallway that went off to the left perpendicular to the last room. The thick tan stone pillars gave us cover as we stalked single-file along the empty hall towards the gaping doorway. We walked through the rough entrance into the next room.

The next room was split in two by the most gigantic gaping ravine we have ever seen. It went down endlessly, and up a ways too, until it was blocked by the land above. The walls and floor were the same as the last room, and the room had two sections in the form of balconies. We had little time to marvel at the room's beauty before we were hit by an incoming fire blast. It burnt my skin and I looked to my right in unison with Jade. It was Caitlin, the mage.

Unfortunately, I wanted to slice my sword across her face and cause her pain as revenge for her fire blast, but she was on the other balcony, and I did not feel like attempting a 20-foot jump over a bottomless ravine. I looked up and she snarled at me, the bitch.

"Here!" Jade yelled over the destruction and tossed me her bow. She wielded Kayle's sling and hurled the magically-generating rocks towards the evil mage across the gorge. I wielded the bow clumsily, as range was not my native skill, but still plucked an arrow towards Caitlin that missed. God, I wished I could get my sword on her.

Jade, on the other hand, was dealing with Caitlin first. Thankfully, since Jade was more of a threat, Caitlin was concentrating her spells on Jade instead of me. But then again, I would never want Jade to die either. How selfish of me.

I kept plinking arrows straight toward Caitlin. My accuracy slowly started to improve and I nailed her in the face. "Yes," I hissed. Caitlin turned at me. Her blood-red eyes stared me down, judging my abilities.

"Puny noob high off his own poor skill." She declared and sent a massive wave of air in my direction. It swept me off my feet. I was seeing red and I shot an arrow right at her eyes, a perfect shot, but she somehow used her magic abilities to hinder the direction of the shot. Jade did the same with a large rock and her sling but the same effect happened. Caitlin cast a binding spell on me, tying me to the ground. I tried to run, but it was of no use.

She smiled as she cast horridly painful spells seemingly deep into my face, intoxicating my brain. I wanted to die painfully and lose everything instead, but she knew exactly how much health I had. Jade ran over and tried to grab me up, but to no assistance, as Caitlin bound her there right next to me. She kept sending spells our way, which now hit both of us. Jade slung a rock but missed. I shot my last arrow and it failed, dropping into the gorge. About 20 seconds later, a loud clink of an arrow on stone came our way. Caitlin took her time.

As soon as my bind spell came out, I sprinted across the room, distracting Caitlin from Jade. Her spells narrowly missed me as I ran toward the room's only exit that was not barred off. Trust me, I was not being selfish; there was no way to undo Jade's bind until the spell's timer came up. As soon as I neared the door, Caitlin grinned evilly, a stare straight out of a horror movie. I was confused, so I turned to the door. As soon as I did so, metal bars rose from the ground, blocking my exit. She cast a bind spell, but I dodged it quickly. I grabbed the sling Jade handed me. Time to improvise to kick the witch's ass.

I hurled a stone to her face, the sling wielding surprising accuracy. It hit her, knocking her back. Lying down on the ground, she cast a spell and tree branches came from the ground and tugged me to the ground. An unnatural force it was, almost snapping my legs in two. I collapsed pathetically to the side. I hurled 4 stones consecutively but they all missed, shattering stone on the other wall. They held much force, and I intended to use it. Suddenly, Caitlin cast a huge wave of multiple colors that went straight into the sling, dropping it from my grasp. I heard her cast another spell but I foolishly didn't notice it, distracted by the fallen sling. I looked up and she was nowhere to be seen. Jade ran to my side, her bind worn off. I relayed her sling to her and she tried to test it but it shot no rocks. Crap! Her spell disabled our only hope! Caitlin was invisible and we had no weapons to use. Overpowered much? I mean, come on.

"That bitch had better took off the invisibility cloak. Now." Jade commanded. I looked around, trying to grasp a wisp of her figure in the air. I did not.

A wave spell came out nowhere and hit me in the side. My health was dangerously low. "Enjoy your death," a grimacing voice came from the edge. "It shall be painful." I could locate her using her voice. "Maybe you can have fun with your little slut in Hell." That was it. I grabbed my sharp sword and hurled it as hard as I could.

My sword cleared the ravine, like a tiger jumping at its prey. It was a rough throw, but it was going in the general direction of Caitlin. Suddenly, Caitlin came into view, trying to dodge the sword, but it blasted into her head. Her head snapped and she fell onto the flat floor, her pool of blood spilling over the edge of the balcony. Suddenly, the spell on the sling wore off and it was usable again. Then the bars on the doorways dissipated, revealing a hallway to the south. "Phew," I said, entwining Jade's hand as we skipped to the door in joy of Caitlin's death. It may be brutal, but Caitlin had it coming to her. Plus, my ranged level went up to 5, so I was much more competent with a bow. We entered a new hallway that mirrored the last hallway we walked through, except on the other side. It took us to Caitlin's balcony; I spat on her face. You know, just as a gesture of my respect for her. Jade took her staff, which would definitely serve its purpose if we decided to take up magic.

We continued to walk toward the end of the other balcony. We entered another room through a crude doorway and it contained a staircase that went down. We went down and entered a wide hall. We walked south.

Suddenly, something caught our eye. It was a tomb. "Look!" Jade said. I nodded and we ran over to it, ready to open it up and reveal the secrets it foretold. Perhaps it would be Ilona. We grunted and pushed up the lid and shoved it off. It was Ilona. She was all tied up, all messed up by that jerk Reese. I wanted to strangle him. Surely he deserved the fate, likewise to Caitlin.

"Hello." Someone groaned from the shadows. How foolish we were, running straight to the tomb. Had we not considered it was guarded? Suddenly, Reese stepped into the light, revealing himself and blocking our exit from the southern end of the hall. "No time to introduce ourselves. Let's get your death over with." Jade gasped in horror. I stared him down.

"We killed your little friends easily, I think you will meet the same unfortunate destiny." I declared boldy. He smirked.

"Small chance," he said. "They're puny. I'm big. I could crush them too, who knows, maybe even you high and mighty kids. Now run off to your mommies before I kill you."

We stood our ground and braced ourselves for an attack. "Not moving, eh?" Reese said.

"Nope." Jade responded. We could feel the coldness in the air, nipping our goose-bumpy skin. The situation should be tense, but it was freezing. In a horrible way.

"I guess you and your slut will have to be defeated then," Reese said. Jade took the insult hard.

"You have no right to say that!" Jade yelled and slung a rock against his cold face. Blood came from his cheek.

"Nice going, Jade!" I encouraged, aggravating Reese further. We had no choice but to battle.

I charged him, stabbing him right in the side. He curled over slightly but came back strong, kicking my legs. I flew over myself from his trip and landed on my back on the steps below, causing a great deal of pain and knocking the wind out. Jade repeatedly hurled rocks around, messing up the Blood Pact's wall decorations. Reese charged her, flicking her into the wall. She fell down into a sexy little ball. I was slammed into my side by Reese's sword. He could have stabbed me but apparently he wanted to take his time.

I grabbed his legs, still on the ground, and threw him to the ground. I jumped up and kicked him. He brought his sword and sliced my ankles. My kicks were going nowhere so I grasped my sword and brought it down on his chest. Jade got up and hurled one more rock at him, killing him. Although it was not a brutal death, it was easy for us. We had killed the three cultists, now we just had to save Ilona.

Peering into the coffin, Ilona's eyes said gratitude. We took off her mask concealing her voice. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she gasped.

"No problem! Thank God you're alive…" we said. "So, you got caught going to Wizard's Tower, I hear?" I asked.

"Yeah, they jumped out of the trees and grabbed me…I'm sure it was all over the newspapers." I nodded.

"Well, let's get you out of there, Jade said. We picked up Ilona and layed her on the floor. Knot by knot, we undid the ropes tying her down and she was finally free.

I had to break the news to her. "I'm sorry, Ilona, but you're going to have to wait while we go in this cave," I said, gesturing toward the hole in the wall leading to the cave mentioned by Xenia earlier. Apparently it held some precious objects we could trade in directly for money. Unless we had the objects, our quest would not be over.

Ilona nodded in agreement, understanding our situation. "Can I come?" she asked.

**A/N. Will Ilona come? Review your answer and any suggestions for the story. Again, thanks to Dwagonshy, and make sure to check out Dman441! That's all for this chapter. See you tomorrow or something!**


	12. The Blood Pact Part 2

**A/N. Soooooooooo sorry about the huge wait guys! I've had tons of homework and tests to study for..I stayed up until 5 am studying one night, only got an hour of sleep. The past few days have been a recovery, but I have a 3-day weekend so prepare to see multiple chapters.**

**Here it goes…**

**P.S. I got no reviews…so sorry if you wanted Ilona to do something in particular.**

"Can I come?" Ilona pleaded, her eyes big liking a begging child. I glanced at Jade, only to see an eager nod. Damn it.

"Fine." I said, tossing her a dagger.

"Yippee!" she yelled, jumping in circles. I rolled my eyes.

"OK, but we're gonna need some rules. One. Do not tread ahead of us, you will always need an escape route because we do not want to end up being the ones responsible for your death. Two. Do not be hyper in the cave. That would just be plain obnoxious. And three; in no way will you do something dangerous without our permission. That goes back to number one," I declared.

"Well then, mister meany-head." Jade teased, meanwhile scorning on my restrictive rules. I shrugged. I knew she would understand.

"Right this way, Ilona," I said, guiding her to the wall. I hopped in, then Jade, and finally Ilona.

The cave did not get off to a good start. Expecting for it to open into a wide-open area at first, I crawled numerous yards, only to have the hole's walls enclose on me. The squeeze was getting tighter and tighter, but to no avail. "Hey Dylan, any hope in sight?" Jade yelled, crawling up behind me.

"No," I said, trying to hide how claustrophobic I was. I was starting to get scared that I was stuck. Or maybe that it was all a ploy by Ilona and Xenia to trap Jade and I.

Fortunately, my fears were eventually relieved, as the tight space curved down and then up, opening into a medium-sized cavern.

The cavern was different from the last section of caves. This one took a much more natural look, featuring rocky-grey stone, rather than tan brick slabs, plus stalagmites, rough walls, and no pillars. It was a truly creepy place, only lit by a few torches. In the dark areas were enemies lurking and plotting to take our flesh. At first, we did not see any monsters.

Jade emerged, wiping the sweat off her brow, and then Ilona. "Boy, that was not a pleasant crawl. I think my pink shirt may be ruined," Jade said.

"Tell me about it. I still feel claustrophobic in this cave." I complained. Jade nodded, but Ilona urged us. Very funny, Ilona. Like you weren't claustrophobic.

Seemingly reading our minds, Ilona said, "Well, I was fine. Fortunately, my magical abilities were able to relieve the impending pressure of the rock above." Well, good for her. Not for me though.

I walked toward the end of the current segment of the cave, leading Jade and Ilona into the darkness. My hands trembled, fumbling for an entrance to the next segment. I found it. As we walked into the next cave, we could hear things crawling. Looking down, my eyes saw nothing, but I could feel it in my feet.

_Scrunch, scrunch,_ our feet went, stepping on some type of giant, armored bug. Probably a cockroach. I swung my sword down, slicing one in half randomly. "Ewww," Jade said, squirming. Bugs weren't her thing.

We walked to the next room, which was to the left of the first two. As we emerged unto it, an 8-legged foe grabbed hold of my leg. I tried to shake it off but it dug its disgusting fangs into my leg. I shouted, causing alarm. Jade ran by as I sliced it off my leg. She sliced and shot some, and Ilona cast spells at a couple. They were constantly coming at us, but the herd started to thin and we rushed toward a light at the end of the catacomb. It was another section.

We passed through the entrance into the new, lighted room. Inside of the room were hideous, warped flies. They grinned at us with their eery, human-like faces. That was before the rushed us. Jade saw it coming, and shot an arrow through the wings of two at once. They fell. They were easy to kill, but there were too many of them. The disgusting creatures taunted me, but I fought back and slashed their bodies. They dropped ashes and coins. I could hardly see a thing as they bombarded me. I continued to fight them off. Once the pack thinned, I saw an obelisk. It held a strange artifact, a statuette made of jade. It looked extremely valuable.

Jade jumped out to the artifact, grabbing it before I could warn her of a possible trap. Fortunately there was none. Ironically, Jade held up the jade statuette in triumph. I just shrugged and accepted her success. "I'll keep this one. Here, I'll advance into the next room first, you look exhausted."

"Sure," I openly accepted, following her into the next room. What secrets would it hide? Emerging into its entrance, I saw a few horrifying crawling corpses. Without legs. They were hideous, and they soon noticed us and crawled vigorously in our direction. I quickly sliced them apart. One, two, three, four, five corpses littered the floor. Ilona cast undead-killing spells across the field of corpses. Jade stuck to the back, as her range skills had not proved useful in this case. Eventually, there were no living, or should I say undead, corpses in the room. I proceeded to the next one.

The next room encased warped rats. They had dark, shadow-like grey fur and gleaming red eyes. The second I entered the room, I was ambushed. These rats were particularly easy to kill, as they did not have much unusual power compared to a regular rat. I just hope Jade, Ilona, and I are safe from rabies. I guess we'll see. As the last rat was killed, we stood there for a second, catching our breath and eating steak before we got to the next room.

"Everyone okay so far?" I asked.

"Yeah," I heard from the girls. What surprised me was that Ilona was being so helpful. She was actually killing a fair amount of monsters, so I was glad I brought her.

Once we had recharged, we headed to the next room, which was darker than usual. Once I got a decent look at the dark creatures wandering about the room, I alarmingly realized they were skeletons. They're skeletons!" I whispered behind me.

"Charge," they said. I ran to one and almost stumbled over, seeing that they were level 22. It ignored me at first but slowly realized I was there and lashed out with its sharp, bony arm. It clashed into my stomach, knocking the wind out of me. I kicked back and it fell to the ground. Obviously, defense was its weakness. Once my stun effect wore off, I jumped up to a fighting position and knocked down the skeleton, which was now beginning to stand again. Once again, it fell to the ground, struggling to get up. I kicked it in its side and it rolled over, facing the ground. I stomped it repeatedly and watched its health bar drain. Right as I was killing it, it grasped my leg hard, locking me in its hold. I yelped and pried its fingers off with a bronze dagger.

Looking to the side, I saw that Ilona was about to be cornered and Jade was down, her health at just 1/3. She looked to me for assistance and I ambushed her attacker, knocking it to the ground. We sliced with our swords and kicked aggressively. It quickly lost health and died.

Ilona's magic was an advantage on the skeletons, so the skeletons were not pleased. While we were unattended, they were all approaching her like mindless mummies. Apparently they were trying to eliminate their enemies' power at its source. Plus, Ilona was in a desperate situation.

"Ilona!" Jade shrieked in her high-pitched voice as a skeleton grabbed her neck. Her pursuer pressed her against the wall, hard, like a typical level 22 monster. Her health drained to perhaps about ¼. When would these catacombs end? Maybe this wasn't such a good idea… Jade and I came to our senses and rushed to Ilona.

There were approximately 8 skeletons left. I shoved two to the side at once, one of them slamming into another. In their zombielike state, they attempted to recover and chase me to get me, but they were too slow. I dodged an alarmed skeleton and Jade was hit but kept running. We passed a couple more and finally reached Ilona. She was being strangled by the lead skeleton in the corner, and I slammed into it with all my body weight, ramming it into the wall. Ilona cast a binding spell on it as another came at her. Her health was only 1/5. She desperately gobbled down food while she still had the chance.

I sliced the incoming skeleton and it shot back a few feet. Jade shot it with an arrow, dealing a surprising amount of damage. I slammed it again and kicked it back, taking the time to gulp down some random piece of food from my pack. I tossed Jade another piece of food.

It came at me again and I dodged, using its momentum to grab its arm and fling it to the wall. It pathetically smashed into pieces at the clever blow, ending its life.

One down, 7 to go.

At this time, Ilona's original attacked had been relieved with its stun, but Jade was already on it. She slashed it repeatedly with a dagger, hardly using up any of her energy. The skeleton's ribs smashed together painfully, and it nearly died. I came in and literally bodyslammed it. It fell into a bunch of pieces, 206 to be exact, and died.

Two down, 6 to go.

Ilona was doing fairly well holding the skeletons back with her fire strikes. I came in on another one, nearly dead, and dealt the last blow.

Three down, 5 to go.

By the time I turned around, another one had apparently snuck around my back and grabbed hold of Ilona. The bastard. In my fit of rage I came in like a wrecking ball, smashing it to pieces, almost hitting Ilona as well.

**A/N. Me: Miley Cyrus reference? He he he, clever huh? You: WTF is wrong with you? Me: …Okay…..**

Four down, 4 to go. And Ilona's health was seriously low, dangerously low. Jade and I both sensed the problem and formed a human wall around Ilona in the corner.

One skeleton came from the left, thinking it would be funny to bitch-slap Jade. How clever…but nope. I slashed his skull off. My health was low, so I ate. Five down, 3 to go.

Another skeleton was on Jade. She shot it down with an arrow, and I brought my sword down on its chest. A few of its bones chopped in half. My attack level went up from 8 to 9. It grabbed my neck, but Jade came from behind and wrapped her arms around me, prying off its bones. It stumbled backward, and I karate kicked it to the ground. I slashed it three times. One, two, three. It was dead.

Six down, 2 to go.

A skeleton promptly wrapped its arms around my neck, making a crude attempt at choking me. I lashed out with its knee where its groin would have been, rattling its bones. It seemed to make an angry face, if that was even possible from a skeleton. It tried to slap me, a bad decision, and I dodged, tripping it to the ground. I jumped on it, finishing off my prey by crushing its bones.

Seven down, 1 to go.

That one was occupied by Jade. She was fighting like a man, slashing and jabbing all over. I ran over to help finish the kill. I stabbed it and it fell to the ground. That was the end of that room.

**A/N. Woohoo! My first chappy in a long time so I hope you enjoyed it a lot, as in really, really enjoyed it. Give me a review and you get a free cookie over the internet!**


	13. The Blood Pact Part 3

**A/N. Hey everybody! I'm back with yet another chapter as make-up for my time A.F.K. So, here it goes. I'm typing this on a restricted school network, however, so I don't have access to the wiki...I might add in the trivial stuff later, like what material the statuettes are made out of. Anyways, enjoy!**

Ilona sat scrunched in the corner, propped up against a rugged wall. Her sad eyes looked at us pleadingly as I stared at Jade questioningly. Jade looked frantically around the room, as if the walls had something to heal Ilona.

Obviously, we had no surplus of food to gobble. I suppose we could just wait for Ilona's health to recharge naturally. It was our only option.

Slowly, I took my place next to Ilona protectively. Jade pressed next to me. I looked around the room, waiting for all kinds of monsters to ambush us and kill us.

~~~1 hour later~~~

"My health-it's done. We can leave..." Jade jumped up and grabbed Ilona's hand, pulling her to her feat. She limped toward the next room.

"Wait, Ilona..." I interrupted. "Remember the rules...maybe you should just stay behind. It's too much of a risk. At least if we die, we'll have served our purpose. But if you die, we'll never be forgiven."  
Ilona pondered the request for a minute or two. Sweat came to her shing cheeks in the hot, dense air. Actually, no. They were tears. "Yes, you're right," she sighed. Jade looked at her thankfully.

"Okay, so you'll stay behind, completely out of sight, right?" Jade confirmed.

"Yes," she responded. I grabbed Jade's hand and we marched into the next room, waiting to see what mysteries it held. Before we got there, something caught our eye.

It was another statuette. I jumped over to it and grabbed it in pure excitement. Jade gasped as well. It was made of topaz, a very valuable material. I packed it in my bag.

Next we sprinted to the next room, wielding our sword and bow respectively.

This room held hideous warped bats. To our shock,they were level 12! A/N. So sorry about calling the last monsters level 22! I was going off the new combat system, I forgot about the differences between RS 2 and EOC. I'm going back to the old combat system for now. I estimated that there were about 6, and we were in trouble. A bat flew right into my face. Apparently they did not want to avoid us.

I grabbed the wings and flung it into the wall. It came back and I dodged it, confusing it. Another came at me but i saw it coming and slashed it out of the air. It died just as I turned around. The other was coming at me, but it suffered the same fate. My sword met its face, severely chopping it in half.

I glanced to the right, only to see Jade on the floor with a bat clung to her face. I jumped on top of her and flung the bat off her face. I smiled and expected to see her smile back. Instead, a deathly glare went across her face as she lashed out at my head.

But not to worry, there was a bat stuck to my skull. Its fangs stuck into my skin but were thankfully pried out by Jade's blow.

"Thank you," I said. I wiped a dash of hair from her beautiful eyes and pressed my lips to hers. Moving away, she smiled.

We jumped up, back-to-back and each met incoming foes. Mine was a bat, as expected, and I sliced its wing off. Oddly, it continued to fly, as if by magic. I chased it around the room as it tried to escape its predator. My sword met it once more, and it fell to the ground, waiting for a long, painful death.

_Thump_, I felt on my head. An especially large bat rammed into the back of my head, dealing a large amount of damage. My head started to go cloudy and I saw stars. I fell to the ground.

~~~A little while later~~~

"That should be better," I heard in a sweet, pretty voice. Jade's of course. The room was still dark, and my memory vivid of what had happened before, unlike most of those who pass out. I was lying on the ground with Jade on top of me.

"What happened to me?" I questioned.

"Well, a bat slammed into the back of your poor head...it caused a little damage, but not too bad." Jade said. Jade the medic. I liked the idea. "That was a few minutes ago. It seems like your memory is good, and your unconscious period was very little, so I'm thankful for that. All I've done is splash some water over your head and place some of these bandages from Tutorial Island. Are you feeling better?"

I grasped around my head and felt a bump. It was covered by a thin layer of bandages. Fortunately, it was just a small throbbing and I thought I would be able to go on. "I'm fine," I half-lied. There was no excuse for not carrying on.

"Well, let's rest for a bit and regenerate health, I'm pooped too." Jade sat down next to me, leaning against nothing but her elbows.

Suddenly, I noticed Ilona approach. "I thought you guys had moved on to the next room when I heard silence. But then there was talking, so I came to see what was going on."

"Oh, nothing much...Dylan here was knocked out by a bat." Jade's voice rang through the small corridor.

Ilona nodded, understanding.

"Now we're healing. We're saving our food for emergencies during battle, of course. This situation could turn dire any moment." Ilona and I both nodded. We sat and healed.

~~~A couple minutes later~~~

I jumped up, full of energy. I grabbed Jade's hand and helped her up. Ilona was on her feet in no time. "I'm ready!" I shouted. We marched to the next room, weapons in hand.

The next room was full of corpse archers. Slime hung from their bones, patches of rotting skin hung off their most intact parts, and they reeked heavily of something horrible. There were approximately 9 of them. Ilona shot first, sending a large fireball in their way. It smashed into three at once, dealing half of their life points.

"Nice shot!" I yelled over the carnage.

"It's what I do best." She proudly declared, shooting a few ice blasts to chill their bones and then binds to hold them back from me.

I ran out to another corpse archer and it shot an arrow into my arm. I grabbed it and slung it out, throwing it to Jade as ammunition. I stabbed the archer where its stomach used to be, twisting my sword in it's gut area. It cried out in pain, which I'm not sure how it could feel without skin and nerves. Its health points drained and I finished it off with a quick stab of my dagger.

Another promptly came at me. i gulped down a cooked chicken from our fridge and sliced my sword brutally across its skull, leaving a deep indentation. It punched my in the nose, dealing a huge amount of pain. Right as it came in for another blow, I jumped aside, bumping another of the slimy creatures. I sliced that disgusting beast, aggravating it more. It charged at me but Ilona cast a spell in my direction. It turned out to be a bind, allowing me time to meet a third one shooting arrows in my direction.

I dodged arrows as if I was stepping on fire, with great skill. One eventually skimmed my arm, surprising me because it was from the original corpse. I stabbed my sword into its pelvic bone and it died, giving off a horrible, ear-cringing screech.

Another got me from behind, using a kick this time and stunning me. I was on the ground, defenseless, but Jade noticed, letting out a cry of fear and ultimately running to save me. She ran up, shot one in the back, and it died. Another pushed her down, but I tripped it, sending it falling on top of her. I kicked it off and it got up to brawl with me. By the time it did so, I let out a battle cry and chopped it in half in the spinal cord.

There were only two left. Ilona promptly finished one off, as their weakness was magic. Jade and I shared the other. She shot it from afar and I crushed its skull with a heavy blow from the top. It fell and died.

That was the end of that section. Jade moaned, Ilona grumbled. "Will this cave ever end?" I groaned, stressing the "ever."

"I'm starting to have serious doubts too..." Jade trailed off. "I just want to go home."  
Surprisingly, our motivator was Ilona. "We'll just have to press on." She had seriously proved her worth in this journey. I was glad to have her there in the end, although she wasn't my girlfriend or anything like Jade.

We sat, healed, and did the whole routine. Pretty soon it was time to go to the next section.

**A/N. How was it? Pretty soon it's time for some romance again...comment on how you would like that. lemons or no lemons, how much gushy stuff, or whatever. By the way, so sorry again for the huge wait for the last two chapters. I uploaded them simultaneously as a reward for your patience. Thanks for reading!**

**P.S. Check out my friend Dman441!**


	14. The Blood Pact Part 4

**A/N. So I revised chapter 1 and it's up and running. Feel free to check it out! I may be revising other chapters too to improve my story.**

I led the way into the next room. I held my sword high, Jade her bow, and Ilona her staff. Walking through the narrow, rough crevice, I saw the biggest room yet. It was a tall cavern with a puddle-ridden floor. Thin stalactites dangled from the ceiling. The wall was a rough grey stone with little crevices all over. Some carvings might have been on the walls, but they were too sloppy to depict, almost like the author had only a few moments to live before they died.

Inside the cavern were goblin-like skeletons that had the name "skoblin." They glared at us forebodingly and immediately charged. One cornered me dangerously close to the door I had just walked through and a rough spike protruding from the wall used for torture purposes. Ilona sent a fire spell in their direction, damaging just one, if any. They chattered, an the room was emanated with their evil giggles. They took their time bringing us to their doom, and it was straight out of a horror movie.

One walked up slowly and I took the opportunity to slice off an arm. Strangely, it continued to approach, unfazed. Getting worried, I ran to the side, struggling to evade its wrath. Another one hit me, this time grabbing my arm in a strong, undeniable grasp. I pried its fingers off one-by-one and it fell to the ground. My arm ached and tears came to my eyes. Fortunately it fell to the ground, so I stomped it and it died.

I went back to battling my original opponent. It swung at me, I dodged it desperately. It punched three more times, but this time I grasped its disgusting, slime-ridden arm and flipped it over in rage. It bones shattered as I punted it into the wall. It pressed on, punching me painfully. I unsheathed my dagger covered in slime from monsters' guts, waving it threateningly. It had no reaction, so I stabbed it. It howled in pain as I pulled it out, its putrid body now covered in not just slop but also pouring blood.

Jade was struggling to deal damage using range, but defending herself decently. She sent several arrows deep into a same monster, killing it with a painful, lucky shot. Ilona was doing badly, and most of them had targeted her as a result of her advantage as a mage. They cornered her in one little outpost of the room, and her situation was dire. The monsters eyed her hungrily, perfectly ready to tear her apart. But I would not let that happen.

I dodged fallen skoblins and grabbed Jade's arm. She was taken in surprise but followed me, knowing something was up with Ilona. She silently gasped when she saw the situation. I shushed her and we charged.

Jade plowed a sharp arrow through two at once, humorously sticking them together. They cried out in rage but I chopped another in half. Ilona finished off another one which had come dangerously close to grabbing her arm. Skoblin slime pooled up on the floor disgustingly as a result of our destruction. Jade shot another, killing it, and I broke the other two skoblins apart and stabbed the slow monsters one-by-one. Slowly, we gained the upper hand in the war, and things started to look good.

One approached me from behind but Jade warned me so I sliced it, half shocking and half angering it. Teamwork was pure ecstasy when utilized properly. The foe punched me in the gut, knocking my wind to who-knows-where. But the arrogant monster had nothing on us; Jade jumped over me and kicked it in the face, not even giving time for it to scream before it died. It fell to the ground and died silently.

Another tried to stun me with reckless punches in all directions but Ilona came to the rescue, binding it and offering her arm to help me up. Another came from behind her but Jade shot it in the heart, easily causing fatality. Yet another came toward Jade, but I karate-kicked it in the back, one-shotting its death. Several of my levels went up. The herd was beginning to thin.

One last skoblin tried to kill us, but Ilona fire blasted in its face. It screamed in frustration but it was too late; my thin blade of my sword had penetrated its disgusting, rotting skin. We sat there, panting.

After a few moments of savored resting, we decided to pace on.

"Well, there goes another wave, huh?" I asked, a little too carefree in hindsight.

"Yeah, I killed them sooo easily…" Jade fantasized, swinging her dagger with a swagger clearly needing to be put into perspective. If only she knew what was next.

I headed into the next room. Passing under the tiny entrance-way, I saw it was the exact same, except blood splattered the walls and evil, Zamorakian chants were carved into pillars at the edge of the room. This room was darker than the rest but it was lit up by mysterious, blue side-by-side lights. They all turned at us and stared us down, questioning when we would make the first move. It reminded me of a RuneScape zombie invasion, or at least something of the sort. It was creepy, and I knew they would pounce as soon as we moved.

"Run," I gasped behind me. Ilona, Jade and I sprinted to the room's exit. Time went into complete slow motion and I literally dove for the exit but suddenly a "corpse mage" teleported in front of us, blocking our path.

"Going somewhere?" he chanted. The rest of them chattled their skulls with unconventional laughter. I turned to run the other way. One tripped me, sending me to the ground. I gasped as another grabbed Ilona. The room was chock-full of more corpse mages than any other monster in the dungeon. They were literally uncountable.

Ilona sent a fire wave at one, he held up his arm and deflected it, hitting Jade. I sliced the one which currently held my legs, making it flinch slightly. "Look!" I yelled and the foolish creature turned around. I sliced its head off.

"Hahahahahahahahah!" we laughed. As I turned, a bunch pounced on me. I frantically wove my sword, killing off a couple after a few moments. There were literally so many competing to grab hold of my flesh that they were unable to conquer me. I stabbed, crushed, sliced. Some fell. I got to my feet.

One pounced on me but I flung it to the ground. It sent me a gigantic blue wave of water, launching me 6 feet in the air. He ribs rattled as I hit the ground hard, completely disabled.

"Hahahaha…" they laughed menacingly. Shit. They were mages, I was a warrior.

Ilona sent a few frantic air blasts in my direction to no avail. They kept bombarding me with blue waves of water, and then Jade. Jade was pressed against a wall, one of them creepily close to her face, about to kiss her. She screamed, attracting more attention. I got up and kicked his bum straight in the ass, it turned at me and attacked vigorously. I swear I felt numerous bones snap, and I fell to the ground. A bunch of them piled up on me, while the others captured Jade and Ilona.

Their cracked teeth cut through my skin. They were eating me. Double shit.

My skin twisted and turned, it was torn off, when suddenly "Stop!" rung through the air. All the corpse mages stood up, turning in one direction into formation like a highly-trained army of slaves. There was a new opening in the other side of the room, and the most creepy creature ever stood in it.

He had blue eyes as well, but his skin was midnight black, almost invisible apart from the glowing-red bloodstains that splattered his face and arms. He wielded black chainmail and platelegs and his hair was fiery red. His eyes glowed and he stepped from his place, patrolling up and down the rows of saluting corpse mages.

He saw us, undoubtedly, but he took his time to get us. I was first. He stuck out his fist, and my body was sucked into it and out the other side into handcuffs. The same horrible fate happened to the other girls.

~~~3 hours later~~~

My stomach growls. We have been hanging by our feet, shackled onto a wall in his pitch-black den. We can hear him pace back and forth, taking advantage of his bright night vision. Ever so often his hand strokes my throat or Jade's female parts, lusting for blood, or rape, depending on the person. Ilona is ignored. He saves her for later. His name is Dragith Nurn.

We have been hanging upside down for what seems like forever. Not only that, my insides start to feel extremely heavy. I think I am being gradually suffocated, but I have no way to stop it. What a cruel game.

We don't bother to talk to each other in chance that he will hear and kill us. With my death on the visible, gloomy horizon, I whisper, "Jade." She does not hear me. "I love you."

"You too," she whispers back, embracing my hand despite the 3 foot margin between us.

We hold the embrace for a while, but eventually it is cut short. We hear footsteps, the smallest we could ever imagine, unlike the reckless ones of Dragith Nurn. Chills run up and down my spine, taunting me with fear. I am too afraid to say anything to Ilona, or even Jade. I begin to think I am dreaming, but reality cuts me short.

"You're dead." A gruff voice says, echoing throughout the room.

Clap. The dim lightbulbs turn on, illuminating a cramped cavern. "Good thing I have the clap-on, clap-off system installed to my cave," Dragith says in his doomful voice. He unsheathes his sword, facing our ally.

He is tall, tan and very handsome, I must admit, even though I'm not attracted to guys. Some Al-Kharidian blood probably runs in his veins somewhere. He wears dark blue armor, armor of mithril. His gleaming brown eyes glare into Dragith's soul, sizing him up. He is confident, his head held high. He may not be a tank of a man, but he certainly has a decent amount of muscle mass. His platebody cradling his chest is carved with indecipherable script and symbols of the gods. He holds a pristine adamant sword threateningly, waiting for the right moment to pounce. A mischievous smile is plastered on his face, looking forward for the incoming death of his enemy.

Dragith Nurn charges, sending a black longsword straight through the stranger's mithril body and into his chest. The stranger screams, a ghastly scream at its best. I shroud my ears and eyes from the horror but still peek in between my hands. Dear Saradomin. They swing around, fighting for dominance in the battle, the sword still stuck in him. He spins, unfazed, his royal blue cape fanning out behind him like a huge, magnificent tail of a dragon. The stranger rips the sword out of his penetrated skin and flings it across the room. It sticks deep into a wall. Unable to be retrieved by the average mortal. "Bitch." he says. "Move off." Dragith dodges three repeated stabs toward the stomach but on the forth time, the stranger's goes unexpectedly to the right, digging into Nurn's stomach.

"Ohhhhh…" he groans in pain. Dragith is infuriated, unbearably angry. He screams, rattling the cave walls. My hearing rings, Jade grasps my hand in fear. But that was all part of the crafty stranger's strategy, his master plan to trick Draigith into losing his temper. He grabs him by the neck and lifts him high into the air, hanging him alive with his callous hands. However, he decided to take a different approach.

The stranger brings his prey over to Dragith's heavy stone desk, throws him on the ground, and tosses the desk over him. Dragith's head peeks out, and the stranger grabs Dragith's sword from the wall and sticks it through his neck and straight into the dense floor. Dragith Nurn's mouth forms a gasp from the impact, and then he is dead. I secretly fist-bumped Jade. Victory was ours. Or maybe the strangers, or even possibly both of ours.

"My name is David," he said.

**A/N. So yeah, congrats to Dman for being featured in my story. Yippee yah hoo. Overpowered much? But at least Dragith has the clap-on, clap-off lighting.**


	15. The Blood Pact Rewards

**A/N. I decided to continue writing! I'm sorry for the wait that many of you experienced. L Enjoy the chapter!**

The man looked at us in curiousity. In battle, he was a hero, but in real life, he was just normal, and maybe a tad awkward. He gave me his hand. "My name's David."

"Nice to meet you, David," I replied, shaking his hand gladly. "Are you from around here?"

"Yes, actually," he said. "I live in the southern portion of Lumbridge. I take it you live there too. I suppose we can be friends?"

I was gad to take his request. "Yes!" Jade and I called out simultaneously.

"Now let's get out of here." Ilona said. "But wait—we're still attached to these shackles of death. That's great." She said sarcastically. She had a point, it was time to leave. However, by the time I looked to the only free survivor, David for answers, he had shockingly cast a spell that undid our shackles.

In disbelief, my mouth gaped wide and I said, "Holy crap."

David shrugged. "Oh, just a magical power I have acquired. I'm mainly meelee, but I know a little mage."

"Okay," I gasped, still shocked by the event. My partners were equally shocked. "I guess we can leave now."

I jumped in joy with Jade and we rushed through the dungeon, David and Ilona trailing us. We talked in joy the entire way. I could feel the other two people eying us suspiciously, but I didn't care because I had my Jade with me.

~~~1 hour later~~~

I walk outside. It is dark out, but it is becoming winter so it is still early enough for lights to shine through the neighbors of the church' windows. We stand, chilled, in the church graveyard. Graves surround us, and clouds close in on the full moon above. Xenia bears the same grin that she shone down at us when we entered the catacombs, a death trap.

"Welcome back," she says gravely.

Before she has time to get into a real conversation with us, I say, "We saved Ilona and got the statuettes." I was beginning to feel a bit suspicious of Xenia for some foreign reason.

"I see," she says, satisfied. She gestures to Ilona and places a bag of coins in Jade's hands. "And now is time for your reward."

First, we all gain experience points, which came with a feeling of euphoria. "In case you have not experienced that yet, that is the feeling of gaining experience points extremely quickly. I just gave all of you 100 xp points for attack, strength, defense, ranged, and magic." She even gave it to David and Ilona. They smiled.

"Also, Dylan and Jade, please keep the weapons you received from the three cultists as a token of my gratitude." Reese's sword appeared in my hands, and Kayle's sling and Caitlin's staff appeared in Jade's. We nodded in excitement.

"Finally, feel free to go back in the dungeon to train your levels any time. I have created a shortcut to the monsters' part of the catacombs right inside the entrance."

"Thank you," I said. "And about those statuettes," I began.

"Oh! Oh, oh, I know what you mean. Do you have all six?" I nodded in triumph. "Well, that will be…" she did some math in her head. "2500 coins!" She divvied it out to all four of us in equal quantities, and with that, we were off.

"Well, I'll go back to my place." David said. He walked toward the path out of the gloomy cemetery.

"I think I'll follow you, buddy." I briskly began to follow him, not wanting to stay out in the cold any longer.

"Shh.." whispered Jade. "Let's not." She grabbed my hand and we walked south, straight out of the cemetery into Lumbridge Swamps. All of this occurred late at night, and there was an eerie feel about the place.

**A/N. How was that? Sorry about the short chapter. It was mostly filler, so neglect it if you wish. I'll be updating promptly; do not fret.**


	16. A Special Night

As I began to follow David up into the depths of Lumbridge, Jade grabbed my hand and insisted otherwise. "Don't you want to…you know, have fun?" she whispered. One of my eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"What?" I whispered. A bird sat on the yew tree cowered in the corner of the cemetery, peering at us curiously.

"Well…maybe a date night?" Jade put it out there. As if I would even consider going home.

"Oh my god! Jade, it would be perfect," I explained. Her eyes turned bright with delight and she led me into the open area to the south. I followed her as we walked into the clear, open Lumbridge Swamps.

The Swamps were a serene place. Located just across a picket fence from Lumbridge, they were a beautiful sight. The entire swamp was an aqua color, even the trees. The grass and plants had more of a blue glow than the green glow of the neighboring forest in which we next xJ3rkfac3x. It was a chilly but perfect temperature to be outside with Jade. The air was humid and thick, and this counteracted to the air's cold temperature. Our house faded in the distance.

We briskly walked through the swamp, dodging all trees we encountered. They would be no obstruction to our relationship. "So, what are you planning on doing out here?" I needed to know.

"Remember the night we professed our love?" I nodded, thinking back to the pleasurable memory. "On tonight's date night, perhaps we can go down and fish. It would be convienent as well as fun because then we could get some meals to cook." It seemed like a sizable offer, so I took it up.

A huge grin came onto her face. "Okay, you lead, Master." I joked, my voice filled to the brim with sarcasm. But she was not joking when she led me to the left, out of the swamps. We came upon a clearing where the River Lum ran south-west. Across the beautiful river was the Al-Kharid desert, although we could not spot any houses in Al-Kharid. By now, the full moon was high in the sky.

After I finished taking in the beauty of the scene, Jade handed me a fishing net. We both had one. "How—" she pressed her finger to my lips, shushing me. We were going to fish, and I wouldn't question where the hell the crafty girl got two fishing nets.

Assuming it was as simple as it looked, I dipped the net in the water. "Hmm." Okay, seemed simple enough. What I did not realize was that fish would not just swim into my net right away. I stood there, motionless, for a few seconds.

I dipped it in the water again. This time, it was better, I could feel the groove of fishing. I felt the river's slow current. We knelt silently for a few minutes, as if in prayer in a motionless church of Saradomin. Even the river seemed to be asleep, despite its ever-present small waves. I marveled at the beautiful scenery.

Suddenly, Jade felt a jerk on her net. Currents rippled through the water, and jealousy rippled through my body (but just for a moment, I was glad for her deep down). "Fish!" she screamed, jerking her net from the water. Normally, her voice was loud enough for a neighbor to yell at you, but on our date, we could yell as loud as we want, or be as loud as we want. The fish was a beauty, measuring in at at least 10 inches long. Red stripes streaked its belly and definitive fins ran along its top side. It wiggled frantically.

"Jade! Nice catch!" I said, standing up to stretch. Jade smiled, putting the fish aside. I felt happy, and her fishing level went up. I gave her a congratulatory hug. Not one of love, not yet.

"I suppose we could have it for dinner," said she.

"I'd say so," I said, entertained by the possibility, licking my lips. I laughed in delight. I couldn't wait.

Finally, I turned back down, occupying myself with the possibility of me catching a fish at last. It had been a long effort for me and I still hadn't caught anything. After a few minutes of trying, however, a fish caught in my net at last. I yanked the net back, and the fish flew to the ground, this one wiggling as well. But it was no ordinary fish.

This one was fat, plump, and most of all, about 16 inches long. Jade looked shocked, but I felt a feeling of euphoria. I grinned and Jade just looked from the fish to my grin, from the fish to my grin, over and over again. Jade was the definition of stunned. "My god," she said, marveling at the size of it. It felt like she had been gaping for five minutes, even though it was only 10 seconds. Time slowed down. She stuck her hand up to high-five me. My arm shot out, my hand scoping her out. As our hands made contact in the joyful embrace, something not-so-joyful happened.

All of a sudden, she slipped on the steep slope of the river. Time resumed, she fell way too fast for me to catch her, hands flailing and screaming as she slid into the river. This time, I was the one to be shocked. I felt scared at the terrible thing a simple high-five had resulted in. Was Saradomin trying to punish us for something?

"NOO!" my scream rang out at last. I rushed to the edge, looking for her in the dark river. I looked for a good 30 seconds, but I was frantic by that time. I jumped in the river to get any last memories of her.

I looked desperately. Her head still hadn't surfaced. I threw my hands out in the water, trying to find her in the dark. I searched a good 30 foot diameter of water.

Suddenly, her head surfaced, laughing. "How could you do that to me?" I yelled, despite my gladness to see her. I guess I was a bit harsh about her joke, but she nearly scared me to death! Jade laughed in torment.

"Well, when I'm underwater and I know you are freaking out, I don't want to lose advantage of the opportunity." She declared, taunting me like a demon. She chuckled, like it was all a cruel joke. I guess I knew it was, deep down.

I scowled, treading water next to her. However, my scowl gradually turned into a grin as laughter overcame my mouth. Jade joined in. Before we knew it, our laughter peeled throughout the air. I quickly ran out of breath, but I leaned on her to keep afloat. I heard her beautiful laugh, and her clothes drenched and sticking to her curves was too much to bear. It may not sound too concerning, but her fake drowning seriously scared the crap out of me. Trembling with relief, I brought my lips to hers.

Her eyes opened in surprise but she kissed back, accepting my offer to her. I held the pose for a few moments, but then she forced entrance to my mouth with her tongue, exploring new limits. We swam pleasantly, nothing holding us back from freedom. Subconsciously, my legs kicked to keep afloat. The water was cool, but not unsuitable. The air was crisp and fresh, and the murky swamp trees were pushed out of sight. The river had little underwater greenery, and the soil was great for walking in. Memories of our near-death experience in the Lumbridge Catacombs became meaningless. My only focus was her. She was beautiful.

**A/N. Talk about late updates! Sorry about that! I may be able to update a couple more times soon, but don't count on it as I have finals right around the corner and we all know how grueling that is.**

**Also, sorry about the abrupt ending to this chapter. I'm not sure how my friend (who is David in this story) wishes the plot to go. Anyways, see ya!**


End file.
